While France basks in the glow of the dazzling Paris Olympics, French soccer is trying to shake off a hangover from its own disastrous summer as the first Ligue 1 season of the post-Kylian Mbappe era begins this weekend.

A year after the departures of Lionel Messi and Neymar, Mbappe left Paris Saint-Germain too, signing with Real Madrid after 8½ years in Ligue 1.

Nobody was surprised to see Mbappe finally move on, and he has left behind a league in disarray after the fiasco surrounding the sale of its broadcast rights.