French Footbal Could Inject Excitemet With A Points System Overhaul

Filed in archive Oddballs on March 11, 2006

source: de.sports.yahoo.com

French football could be set for an exciting overhaul if it follows Michel Hidalgo's suggestions. The league and TV station canal Plus were worried by the lack of goals in Ligue 1 (2.18 goals per match last season, compared to 2.91 in Germany, 2.58 in Spain, 2.57 in England and 2.53 even in Italy)
approached Hidalgo (who won the 1984 European Championship for France as a manager) for ways to jazz up the league.

His proposals include:

• penalty shoot out in the event of a draw


• two points to the team that scores first in a scoring draw


• a one goal victory earns only two points

Some proposals are wackier than others. Using penalty shoot outs to decide every tie would encourage weaker teams to really play for a draw and hope to win the shoot-out.

It would be a shame for a team to battle for a hard fought 1-0 win and not get all three points. It almost wouldn't be worth the effort.

But the idea of awarding two points to the first team to score in a draw is very attractive. It might encourage teams to attack earlier, and might also allow a team with a 1-0 lead to be less cagey, as conceding an equaliser would only cost them one point instead of two.

If any of the proposals are taken seriously, the plan is to experiment with them in Ligue 2 first.