Clubs scramble to fill their rosters as top players bolt to other European countries The defending champion sold its best player. The runner-up lost its star goalie, who was suspended for failing a drug test. The third-place team, which went unbeaten in 30 of its last 31 games, started the season without its veteran coach, who quit one week before its opening game. Less than a year before the start of the World Cup, France’s domestic game is in turmoil. Unable to compete on the European market in the post-Bosman era, French clubs are selling their top players before they are lost as free agents to Italian, Spanish and English clubs. More than 60 French players earn their livelihood abroad, and almost all of them moved in the last two years. In the wake of the Bosman decision, the nucleus of the French national team that advanced to the semifinals of Euro ’96 was snapped up by foreign clubs. Whereas Eric Cantona was the exception when he was exiled to England in the early ’90s, there will be 16 Frenchmen in the Premier League ù five alone at Arsenal ù when the English season kicks off Aug. 9. The success of first-year Frenchmen Zinedine Zidane at champion Juventus, Lilian Thuram at runner-up Parma, and Youri Djorkaeff at Inter Milan more than justified the big transfer fees Italian clubs shelled out last summer. AC Milan hopes that colorful Ibrahim Ba will have the same kind of impact this season under Fabio Capello, but Ba aside, most of the Frenchmen who have moved abroad this summer are journeymen. English clubs Arsenal, Blackburn, Chelsea, Sheffield Wednesday and West Ham have all signed French defenders.

Record attendance figures

The irony of this mass exodus is that the French First Division broke all its attendance records this past season when it drew an average of 14,202 fans a game ù despite the fact that several clubs had to close off certain sections of their stadiums so they could be renovated for the World Cup. Noel Le Graet, the powerful president of the French league, believes attendances will average17,000 a game this season. This success is, of course, all relative. Soccer interest in France still lags far behind that in the big European countries ù England, Germany, Italy and Spain ù where revenues from ticket sales, television rights, and merchandising are at an all-time high. The modest crowds at the Tournoi de France ù where organizers were forced to give away tickets minutes before the final game between France and Italy ù underlined the general indifference with which the French treat soccer. While French clubs have benefited from higher TV revenues, they are entirely due to increased competition among national, cable and pay-per-view operators than any increase in ratings. Indeed, ratings have fallen dramatically since the heyday of Marseille in the early ’90s. The French league has only just recently conceived its own logo, and hired a Disney affiliate to develop league-wide marketing and merchandising opportunities. Finally, clubs have come to realize that they cannot depend on the generosity of local municipalities for subventions to underwrite their budgets. Paris St. Germain, the most powerful team in French soccer, is owned by Canal Plus, the popular French TV network. Marseille, finally back on its feet after being nearly bankrupted by Bernard Tapie and his boys, is now operated by Robert Louis-Dreyfus, who runs adidas. Strasbourg was sold this spring to American sports management company IMG. Local Strasbourg officials recently discovered just how fast its new owners want change when the officials were advised that the old La Meinau Stadium (which does not have adequate hospitality or parking facilities) didn’t fit in the club’s plans. The new owners want plans drawn up and construction started on a new facility within three years.

Monaco loses Anderson to Barcelona

The continued flight of players makes it difficult to forecast the new season. Monaco ran away with the title last season, but it could not turn down the $20 million Barcelona reportedly offered for Brazilian striker Anderson. To make matters worse, coach Jean Tigana lost almost his entire backline to English clubs. Needless to say, the tension between the former French midfield star and management, backed by the Grimaldi family’s royal fortune, has been high. Paris St. Germain looms as the heavy favorite even though it will probably lose goalie Bernard Lama and Brazilian midfielder Leonardo. Lama, busted for marijuana this spring, is still looking for a new club abroad. He says he has no desire to play in a country where there’s such a “negative atmosphere.” PSG hoped to keep Leonardo, acquired last season from Japanese club Kashima Antlers, but his spectacular summer with the Brazilian national team has increased his stock twofold. The club did manage to buy Italian striker Marco Simeone from AC Milan and French international Florian Maurice from Lyon, but its big problems are off the field. PSG has a huge front-office staff teeming with internal friction. Brazilian coach Ricardo has seen the writing on the wall and recently announced his intention to return to Brazil after this season. Nantes coach Coco Suaudeau outdid Ricardo, resigning with a year left on his contract. Heir apparent Reynald Denoueix, formerly in charge of the Nantes training school, took over immediately. The 59-year-old Suaudeau enjoyed one of his best seasons since first taking charge of the Breton club in 1981 by coming within one game of finishing second after Nantes started off with a 10-game winless streak that dropped it 19 points behind second-place PSG. On the final day of the season, Nantes was within five minutes of capturing second place ù and a berth in the qualifying round of the Champions League ù but it lost to champion Monaco 2-1. Suaudeau developed such international stars as Didier Deschamps, Marcel Desailly and Christian Karembeu, but Nantes doesn’t have the money to replace them. It’s a story being told all across France. by Soccer America Managing Editor Paul Kennedy