PARIS - The French League Organizing Authority (LFP) has revealed that it will cut the number of contestant teams in the highest caste of French football competition, Ligue 1. From the previous 20 teams, Ligue 1 will be joined by 18 contestant clubs. This change in the number of teams competing in Ligue 1 will take effect in the 2023/2024 season.

The cut in the number of contestants in Ligue 1 is based on the results of a vote by the members of the LFP general assembly. As many as 93 percent of the vote wanted a reduction in the number of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 contestants.

''This is a good decision to show the unity of the parties in French football. Above all, this policy opens up the possibility of creating ambitious reform plans in the future,'' LFP President Vincent Labrune said in an official statement as reported by Sky Sports, Friday (4/6).

To realize this policy, at the end of the 2022/2023 season, the teams that are in the bottom four of the Ligue 1 final standings will be immediately relegated to Ligue 2. While from Ligue 2, the top two positions in the final standings are entitled to promotion to Ligue 1 the following season. . With this condition, the Ligue 1 season 2023/2024 will be followed by 18 teams.

Actually, this is not the first time Ligue 1 has applied the number of contestants as many as 18 teams. Since the 2002/2003 season, the LFP has increased the number of contestants in Ligue 1 to 20 teams and has remained until this season. In the current format of the Ligue 1 competition, the bottom two positions in the final standings will be immediately relegated.

While 18th in the Ligue 1 final standings will face a play-off match in Ligue 1, by facing the winners of the promotion play-off qualifying round from Ligue 2, followed by the third to fifth place in the Ligue 2 final standings in the previous season. .

At the end of the 2023/2024 season, along with the reduction in the number of Ligue 1 contestants, the promotion and relegation system in the top two castes of French football, Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, will also undergo changes. The bottom two occupants of the Ligue 1 final standings will be immediately relegated, while the top two positions in Ligue 2 will be promoted.

While third from bottom in the Ligue 1 final standings will play a play-off round, as well as third place in Ligue 2. Currently, of Europe's top five leagues, only the Bundesliga is participated by 18 teams with a total number of matches reaching 34 matches every year. season. While the French League, Italian League, Spanish League, and English Premier League, followed by 20 contestants with a total of 38 matches per season.