Ligue 1 returns with fewer teams, more quality and plenty of drama

PSG are title favourites – even if Mbappé and Neymar leave – but good luck predicting where the other 17 clubs will finish

By Eric Devin for Get French Football News

It’s the dawn of another season in Ligue 1 and, despite the overall quality of the league continuing to increase, the leitmotif before the campaign is uncertainty. This is the league’s first season with 18 teams, so the campaign will feel like less of a slog and performance levels should improve. Metz and Le Havre have returned – the latter after a long spell away from the top flight – and should be positive additions, but a dizzyingly busy summer window seems to have split the league roughly in half: teams who have a realistic chance of qualifying for Europe and those who would be happy to survive.

We should start with the obvious, the putative champions, Paris Saint-Germain. Kylian Mbappé’s contract situation hangs like an albatross over the club, as do rumblings of a potential sale of Neymar. That said, the club’s transfer business has been consistent with last summer: they have targeted young but experienced players and built intelligently rather than splashing the cash on attacking talent.