France may be home to the reigning men's World Cup champions, but beneath the surface, all is far from well as it relates to the state of the game at its core.
Six months after the start of a broadcast rights deal that promised to elevate French club football to previously unknown heights, the contract was broken. There was a time this week that its professional leagues found themselves in crisis, with several clubs potentially facing bankruptcy. The immediate storm may have passed, as an interim deal has been reached to stave off the worst (for now), but it remains both incongruous and telling that this same week, Paris Saint-Germain has reportedly agreed to extend the contract of Neymar, the best-paid player in French football history, by four more years to 2026.