French Football League (LFP) President Frederic Thiriez has warned the French Football Federation it "would be wrong to declare war on us" in the continuing row over next season's Ligue 1 relegation/promotion battle, according to Ian Holyman of ESPN. The FFF's exec committee is "due to meet on Thursday and is reportedly set to annul the decision of its LFP counterparts taken earlier this month" to reduce the promotion/relegation places to and from Ligue 1 to two as of next season. A representative group of Ligue 2 presidents met FFF President Noël Le Graët last week to "state their unhappiness at the measure, which had initially been set" for the '16-17 season before "surprisingly being enacted prematurely by the LFP." The 20 Ligue 2 clubs have made a complaint to the State Council. Thiriez defended the decision. He "insisted the FFF's power to annul the change was strictly limited." Thiriez: "The Federation would be wrong to declare war on us. It's only possible in two cases: if the LFP has done something illegal or its decision is contrary to the interests of French football." Thiriez ruled out postponing the measure, "which is aimed at protecting the interests of investors at top-flight clubs." Ligue 2 clubs are "particularly unhappy as they will have only two promotion places to the top flight" but will keep the three relegation spots to the National division, France's amateur third tier, which is governed by the FFF (ESPN, 7/22).
