Close
Search
Menu Menu

French top-flight football league to be renamed ‘Ligue 1 McDonald’s’

Credit: Thred
By
London, UK
1 energy + Add Energy
What is energy?
Want to show your appreciation? Give an article “Energy” and it will help us know what you like.
0 comments
0 comments

Its five-year sponsorship with Uber Eats is almost over. Next season, the top-flight of French football will be officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald’s.

This is about to bring a whole new layer to the farmers’ league jokes.

Following the end of its five-year sponsorship with Uber Eats, France’s top-flight domestic football league has just handed its naming rights to another commercial giant.

Next season, the nation’s best outfits will officially be competing in the Ligue 1 McDonald’s. The deal is reportedly worth €60 million over the next three years, which is a significant bump from the €15 million it had been receiving yearly from Uber Eats.

Ignoring the obvious irony of a global junk food consortium becoming synonymous with top level sport, the deal has lifted French football out of a sticky situation. Canal+ notified the league that it would not bid for television rights for the first time in 40 years, and no other offers for investment have come in.

At the same time the league’s reining force, Paris Saint Germain, is on the cusp of losing Ligue 1’s biggest superstar Kylian Mbappe as Real Madrid advance negotiations. When Los Blancos came calling last summer, President Emmanuel Macron personally intervened to plead for one more season in France.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmaWaxyLeKw

‘He [Macron] told me: “I want you to stay. I don’t want you to leave now. You are so important for the country,”’ revealed Mbappe in September 2022.

With the inevitable commercial slump that will come with the 25-year-old’s departure, French football executives are understandably keen to latch onto the offer from McDonald’s. From a credibility point of view, however, the partnership will do Ligue 1 no favours.

The Qatari-owned Parisians have won eight of the last 10 league titles and the competition has garnered an unwanted reputation as being noncompetitive and dull.

At the same time, PSG have consistently underperformed in Europe for the huge sums spent on players and the club’s Champion’s League shortcomings are used by foreign fans to troll Ligue 1 enthusiasts.

The club has received a ton of flack for its Uber Eats sponsorship over the last half a decade, so an affiliation with McDonald’s will no doubt provide fuel for a whole new wave of mockery. Unfortunately, it’s a price Ligue 1 must pay.

This amusing deal aside, though, it has to be said that the nature of sponsorships in football is very fickle and there’s a ton of virtue signaling. The integrity of the sport is regularly undermined in the quest for new revenue streams.

Clubs will ban players for ‘gambling offences’ despite selling kits with betting companies plastered across the front, leagues peddle sustainable initiatives while showering praise on clubs owned by petrostates, and alcohol sponsors are still permitted, further perpetuating the notion that football and drinking are inherently linked.

Ligue 1 joining up with McDonald’s is just the latest example of football compromising its innate principles for cash.

Truthfully, it’s no worse than having a stadium owned by Emirates, but that won’t stop French football fans from tearing their hair out.

Tech Editor London, UK

I’m Jamie (He/Him), the Deputy Editor and a Senior Writer at Thred. Keeping up with social media updates and revolutionary technology is my forte, but when away from my keyboard, you’ll probably find me wrapped around a large Tango ice blast at the latest mediocre horror flick. Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn and drop me some ideas/feedback via email.

Popular

Keep up with thred by signing up to our planet-positive newsletter!

More from thred.

Opinion – FKA Twigs proves AI can empower artists
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Media

Opinion – FKA Twigs proves AI can empower artists

The singer has proposed an AI version of herself to balance her workload. The response has been mixed, but Twigs nods to an empowering future.  FKA Twigs has been known to blur creativity with technology. Her ethereal music, films, and dance routines – alongside art and fashion ventures – have always pushed the boundaries and cemented her position within popular culture. Despite reaching global levels of fame, Twigs has never relinquished her...

By Brighton, UK
Explaining the rise of sleep tourism
Credit: Unsplash
Offbeat

Explaining the rise of sleep tourism

Fast becoming one of the biggest trends in the wellness industry, more and more travellers are foregoing itineraries jam-packed with activities in favour of pillow menus and an early night. A holiday can be many things; for some, it involves exploration, adventure, and trying local cuisine. For others, it’s an opportunity to sit back and relax, to do nothing but lounge by the pool for a week or two before...

By London, UK
Netflix’s undisclosed AI use sparks debate on media manipulation
Credit: Thred
Media

Netflix’s undisclosed AI use sparks debate on media manipulation

Netflix has come under fire for including undisclosed AI imagery in a new true crime documentary. The backlash has sparked important conversations around media manipulation.  Like it, fear it, or loathe it, AI is now a part of our everyday lives. From education to entertainment, artificial intelligence is only set to keep growing, shaping nearly every aspect of our interaction with the media. But these changes call for boundaries. Both AI’s...

By Brighton, UK
‘Bionic eye’ solves mystery of Plato’s final resting place
Credit: Thred
Offbeat

‘Bionic eye’ solves mystery of Plato’s final resting place

Italian researcher, Graziano Ranocchia, may have finally solved the mystery of Plato’s final resting place. An AI-powered ‘bionic eye’ scanned a 2,000-year-old carbonised scroll written around 348 BC which pinpointed a specific location in Athens. The mystery of where one of the world’s greatest philosophers rests may have just been solved – by a machine, ironically. The burial of Plato, arguably the most revered of the foundational thinkers of Greek philosophy...

By London, UK
Accessibility