Marseille vs PSG clash postponed: Consequences and what happens next

Matchday 5 of the Ligue 1 McDonald's was set to be one of the most entertaining of the season with Le Classique between Olympique de Marseille and PSG at the Stade Vélodrome expected to deliver one of the biggest clash of the season. However, due to severe weather conditions in the region, the game has been postponed.

"The match was postponed because there could be heavy rain with significant risks", said Georges-Francois Leclerc, Mayor of the Bouches-du-Rhone region to AFP. The region is on orange alert for rain, floods and storms according to weather forecasters. With the Vélodrome set host over 65.000 spectators, the French authorities decided to put the security of the fans above this major sport event.

As per league regulations, the game has been reprogrammed to Monday, September 22 at 8 p.m. local time (7 p.m. UK time). However, the France Football Ballon d'Or Ceremony is also set at the same time, but several PSG players and Luis Enrique are heavy favourite to be rewarded following their historical 2024 - 2025 treble-winning campaign.

Le Classique postponed, what happens next ?

With the game rescheduled at the same time as the Ballon d'Or ceremony, PSG could be forced to make a difficult choice between playing Le Classique against Marseille on Monday evening and miss the ceremony which could see Ousmane Dembélé receive the greatest individual honours in world football or prioritise the ceremony and align a weakened side against Marseille while their stars attend the ceremony in Paris.

Additionally, the club could decide to not play the game, which would result in an automatic 3-0 loss combined with several hefty fines. Obviously, it is a scenario that the club would like to avoid. Another scenario for PSG, would be to send their youth team to face Marseille.

According to Frenc outlet RMC Sports, Paris Saint-Germain pushed to reschedule the game at 3 or 5 p.m. on Monday which would'v allowed the team to face Marseille and attend the Ballon d'Or ceremony in Paris in the evening. However, this solution was completely rejected by Marseille's board. Furthermore, the other solution was to schedule the game on December 2nd which is the only available date in an already congested fixture list.

Though, once again this solution was rejected by Marseille. It is reported that Les Phocéens made this decision to follow the league regulations as well as in regard to the fans. Therefore, the LFP stuck to their decision and kept the game on Monday evening.

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