Former Six Nations chief Morel to leave French football role

Posted by Admin November 21, 2024 Football

A former boss of Six Nations Rugby is to step down as head of the commercial operations of French football’s top flight after just two years.

Sky News understands that Ben Morel, who was appointed to the role early last year, is to leave during the course of 2025.

His departure will come as CVC Capital Partners, the prolific sports investor which paid €1.5bn to buy a 13% stake in Ligue 1’s commercial rights, seeks to exert greater control over the business.

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Ligue 1, which features clubs including Paris Saint-Germain, FC Nantes and Toulouse, found itself at the centre of a media rights crisis earlier this year.

In July, it struck a €500m broadcast deal with the streaming platform DAZN and Qatari-owned beIN – a discount to the previous agreement.

This month, it emerged that a French financial prosecutor had searched the offices of the country’s football league and CVC and the home of Vincent Labrune, chairman of the commercial rights holder.

Mr Morel’s exit from his role is not connected to that probe, sources said, and he has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Before joining the Ligue 1 commercial entity, he spent nearly five years running Six Nations Rugby, which is also part-owned by CVC.

He also worked for the National Basketball Association for 20 years.

CVC’s investment in French football was structured in three tranches between the summer of 2022 and July this year.

One football industry source said that France’s elite clubs were supportive of CVC taking greater control of the sport’s commercial operations in the wake of the media rights debacle.

CVC has become the most prominent private equity investor in global sport, making a handsome return from its lengthy ownership of Formula One motor racing.

It has since invested in cricket, tennis and volleyball, as well as rugby.

CVC declined to comment on Thursday evening.