Paris Saint-Germain's back-to-back UEFA Champions League titles paint a flattering picture of French football — but peel back that gold veneer and the reality beneath is far grimmer.

Ligue 1 clubs are haemorrhaging talent at an alarming rate this summer, and the root cause is a television rights crisis that has left them financially crippled compared to their counterparts in England, Germany, and Spain.

A TV rights disaster years in the making

The trouble began in December 2020, when Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 terminated a four-year contract with Mediapro — reportedly worth €3.25bn — after the company failed to make two consecutive payments. The wound never fully healed.

Streaming giant DAZN then stepped in, only to exit their five-year deal after a single season in May 2025, citing a shortfall in subscribers. With no major broadcaster willing to fill the gap, the league launched its own platform, Ligue 1+, to carry live matches for the 2025/26 campaign.

As French football expert Tom Williams writes in FourFourTwo's 2026/27 season preview, the consequences are severe: total TV revenue for 2026/27, split across 18 clubs, is projected at a meagre €184.1m — approximately £160m. Compare that to the Premier League's record £6.75bn domestic rights deal covering 2025 to 2029, worth roughly £1.7bn per season, and the scale of the disparity becomes staggering. Ligue 1 clubs will earn less than one-tenth of what their English rivals receive.

Clubs forced to sell to survive

The financial squeeze is forcing even established clubs to offload their brightest prospects. Lyon sold rising star Afonso Moreira, 21, to Bayer Leverkusen, while Rennes centre-back Jeremy Jacquet, also 21, completed a £60m move to Liverpool.

Newcastle United have exploited the situation shrewdly, snapping up 20-year-old central midfielder Aladji Bamba from Monaco and fellow 20-year-old Ewan Jaouen from Stade de Reims. Marseille, meanwhile, cashed in on 24-year-old former Manchester United forward Mason Greenwood, selling him to Fenerbahce for €45m.

Even Paris Saint-Germain — whose squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign will include the likes of Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola, Desire Doue, and Warren Zaire-Emery — are not immune. The European champions have yet to make a single first-team signing this summer, and have raised close to £100m by selling Goncalo Ramos to AC Milan and Lee Kang-in to Atletico Madrid.

The exodus is far from over

Williams warns that those departures represent only the beginning. With TV revenue so depressed, virtually every Ligue 1 club faces a binary choice: sell now, or risk being unable to meet their financial obligations at all.

PSG's Champions League success offers the league a flattering headline — but for the 17 clubs outside the Parc des Princes, this is shaping up to be a brutal summer of unavoidable exits.