The favorite to win the French League would be the team that has won the last five titles: Lyon.
Lyon coach Gerard Houllier was the only one of the league's 20 coaches who did not pick Lyon to win the 2006-07 title in a survey by sports daily L'Equipe. He did not take part.
If Lyon takes the sixth, it will exceed the mark of five straight titles achieved by Real Madrid (twice in Spain), Juventus (1931-35 in Italy) and Porto (1995-99 in Portugal).
However, Lyon failed to strengthen its frontline with a major signing as it was unable to wrest World Cup 2006 star Franck Ribery from Marseille or David Trezeguet from Juventus. It returns Brazilian playmaker Juninho Pernambucano and last season's leading scorer, the Brazilian Fred.
Lyon has exited from the Champions League at the quarterfinal stage three straight years, but won last season's French title with a 15-point cushion over runner-up Bordeaux.
Bordeaux welcomes midfielder Johan Micoud, who failed to live up to expectations of becoming the next Zinedina Zidane but had a Bundesliga-leading 14 assists for Werder Bremen last season. Monaco brings in giant Czech striker Jan Koller, from Borussia Dortmund.
FRENCH LEAGUE ON U.S. TV: Setanta USA, TV5 Monde Etats-Unis.