Ligue 1 2013/14 - Ouverture

France's Ligue 1 has always been a great league as alluded to before but this season, interest will be greater than ever given the takeover of Paris St Germain and AS Monaco by billionaires.

In a previous blog, I spent plenty of time on the rise of those clubs so will spend more time talking about the other teams.

After all, if you took away Paris St Germain - and probably AS Monaco - this season, quite a few teams have the credentials to be crowned champions of France in spring next year.

Meeting for the title? PSG v Monaco from 2010/11

Consider that the champions of the last seasons are as follows -
2012/13 - Paris St Germain
2011/12 - Montpellier (first title)
2010/11 - Lille
2009/10 - Marseille
2008/09 - Bordeaux
2007/08 - Lyon (they were champions every season from 2001-02, the longest streak in French football, well ahead of the streaks Marseille have enjoyed)

Lyon enjoyed the longest winning streak in French football

Unlike the top 2 leagues in world football, the English Premier League and Spanish La Liga, there will always be plenty of contenders for the title, including a fresh contender, like Montpellier two seasons ago and also teams like Lens, Auxerre, Nantes - all 3 of those have been Saint-Etienne and Monaco of course.

Can Evian stay up again?

It's a shame that Ligue 1 has very limited coverage outside of France and Europe. For football aficionados, there is plenty to admire in French football - there is a lot of technical flair and passing and also lots of goals.

Nantes are back!

Maybe it's French football's lack of success in Europe compared to their English, Dutch, German, Spanish, Italian and even Scottish counterparts that has somewhat affected them and their standing in European football. Even when Lyon had their dominant streak earlier in the century, they were still well behind Europe's best.

Perhaps, money was the missing ingredient - that was evident when Marseille were challengers in the late 80s and early 90s although much of that honour built by Bernard Tapie was scrapped after they won the Champions League in 1993 following the match-fixing saga at Valenciennes. Money is now transforming perennial contenders, PSG into France's most powerful team and expect them to be much stronger in Europe this season.

PSG will be strong even without Becks

After all, PSG were very close to knocking out Barcelona last season and even with a change in coach to Laurent Blanc, they still have quite a few good players to be stronger than ever.

And Monaco will be hoping the same amount of investment plus more can push them right to the top of French football and be PSG's challengers.

French football has finally stepped up a level and teams like Marseille and Lyon will have to catch up fast or be left behind, turning Ligue 1 into a two horse race like in Spain and England.

My tips -
Champions - Paris St Germain
Runners-up - Monaco
Champions League spot - Marseille
Europa League spot - Lyon
Relegated - Evian, Guingamp, Ajaccio

Player to watch - Radamel Falcao. Felicitations. The best striker in the world right now is playing Ligue 1 football this season. He will be scoring lots of goals and trying to get Monaco not just safety but Champions League football. Falcao v Ibrahimovic should be interesting.

Expect to see a lot of this this season