AN EFFICIENT, VISIBLE, LEGIBLE AND RESPONSIBLE LFB AND LF2 :
14 ARGUMENTS FOR A 14-CLUB ELITE IN SEPTEMBER 2025
Last weekend, a number of media outlets reported that discussions were underway within the FFBB regarding the return of the LFB to a 14-club format.
All those involved in women’s basketball (clubs, players, LFB and LF2 coaches), represented by their unions, wish to clarify their shared and unanimous position, formalized in a joint motion submitted to the FFBB at the beginning of March.
1. REDYNAMIZE THE CHAMPIONSHIP FORMULA AND MAKE IT MORE EQUITABLE: more regular-season matches, a focus on 8-a-side playoffs, a simplified descent system (the last of the regular season goes down) by doing away with playdowns that are unfair in sporting terms, unreadable for the public and economically dangerous.
2. CREATE JOBS FOR HIGH-LEVEL PROFESSIONAL SPORTSWOMEN: 4 more clubs in the top two divisions create a potential 30 additional jobs for women’s professional sport.
3. RECREATE THE ENTHUSIASM FOR FRENCH TALENTS TO BELIEVE IN THE LFB: recreate opportunities and retain young French players (challenge of the NCAA and foreign leagues: negative balance of arrivals/departures of pros in the LFB for the last 2 seasons, 2 times more departures abroad than returns over the last 3 seasons).
4. PROMOTE AND DEMONSTRATE THE PROFESSIONALIZATION AND RAYONNEMENT OF WOMEN’S HIGH-LEVEL BASKET: structuring of clubs, opening of training center approvals to LF2, specifications for accession from LF2 to LFB and from NF1 to LF2.
5. MAKE COMPETITION FORMAT COHERENT WITH THE ENTRY INTO FORCE OF A HISTORICAL SECTORAL AGREEMENT FOR WOMEN’S PROFESSIONAL BASKET IN LFB AND LF2 (minimum number of contracts, in-season recruitment and recruitment deadlines, training/retraining, contingency plans, etc.).
6. STRENGTHEN THE TERRITORIAL IMPRINT OF WOMEN’S BASKET IN A DYNAMIC WHICH REPRESENTS THE POWER OF WOMEN’S BASKET PRACTICE THROUGHOUT THE TERRITORY and which does not cut us off from the deployment strategy of men’s basketball and other professional sports.
7. MAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP ATTRACTIVE AND VISIBLE FOR THE COMMUNITY OF FANS, MEDIA, PARTNERS who can access more matches, particularly in the face of competition from other high-level sports in certain territories. The audience for women’s basketball is growing, the arenas are full: let’s give it more space and visibility!
8. ACCENTUATE EMULATION AND COMPETITION EVERY WEEK WITHIN OUR CHAMPIONSHIP, BUT ALSO IN COMPETITION WITH OTHER SPORTS IN OUR LOCAL AREAS.
9. SUPPORT CLUBS’ ECONOMIC DYNAMICS IN A TENSE GLOBAL CONTEXT: more matches, attractive playoffs, a more predictable and less costly basis for pre-scheduled matches.
10. ENLARGE THE VIVIER OF NATIONAL 5*5 AND 3*3 TEAMS by promoting a high-level field of expression and providing playing time for new talent without the pressure of a too-tight championship.
11. MAKE THE DURATION AND COST OF SPORTSWOMEN’S CONTRACTS CONSISTENT WITH ACTUAL PARTICIPATION IN COMPETITIONS. Since 2015 contracts last 12 months and yet the championship has been reduced, salaries have been multiplied by 2. How long will this be sustainable?
12. PROMOTE A CO-CONSTRUCTED FORMULA BETWEEN ALL PLAYERS (PLAYERS, COACHES, CLUBS) AND THE FEDERATION.
13. DEFEND OUR MODEL AGAINST COMPETITION (from abroad, WNBA…) by remaining offensive and confident in our strengths: quality of club sports management, training, social framework, appeal to the public, marketing…
14. GIVE CLUBS A MEDIUM-TERM VISION AND AMBITION to undertake structuring projects (venues, partnerships, training, recruitment, etc.).
OUR PROPOSAL: SET COURSE FOR 2025-2026 AROUND TWO CHALLENGES: PERFORMANCE AND ATTRACTIVENESS
The choices we make will determine our ability to exist in an ultra-competitive world:
– Attractiveness of the competition for players and the overall sporting performance of French women’s basketball
-Attractiveness of the format for our sponsors
-Attractiveness of the formula for those who show us
-Attractiveness of the format for those who watch us
The FFBB has already approved the move to a 14-team LF2 in 2025-2026, thus validating a major structuring step. We are delighted about this, even if the players consider the move necessary from 2024-2025 as the first step in a global restructuring of the LFB/LF2.
To date, however, despite the unanimity expressed by LFB and LF2 players, the FFBB remains opposed to the move to a 14-team LFB.
The clubs, coaches and players are unanimous in their determination to obtain urgent and favorable arbitration so that the transition to 14 clubs in LFB becomes a reality as of the 2025-2026 season. This is essential for the future of top-level women’s basketball.
SOME KEY LFB AND LF2 FIGURES:
* An average LFB budget of €2.5M in 2023-2024, compared with €1.450M in 2013-2014.
* 23 professional clubs (12 in LFB, 11 in LF2) and 13 accredited training centers
* A commercial dynamic supported by the clubs’ private partnerships: an average of €1.35M in private partnerships in 23-24 (€540k in 2014)
* An economic model with no redistribution (LFB partnership or TV rights, financial compensation for the provision of internationals in EDF 5*5 and 3*3))
* A positive and improving net situation for LFB clubs (881k€ for 14 clubs in 2013-2014 vs. 3.9M€ for 12 clubs in 23- 24) despite tensions at the end of the COVID crisis and a global economic crisis.
* Nearly 200 professional players in LFB and LF2: the most advanced women’s team sport in terms of professionalization.
* An improvement in the social situation of players, which will be reinforced by a sectoral agreement for women’s basketball from July 1, 2024: average gross salary of €6300 in 23-24 (compared with €3700 in 14-15 in LFB).