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It was said with a smile. But not the warm kind. Luis Enrique stood in front of the TNT Sports mic, moments after Paris Saint-Germain had booked their place in the UEFA Champions League final last wednesday, and let the sarcasm drip.
“We are the league of farmers,” he said. “But it’s nice—we’re enjoying the results.”
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This season, PSG have knocked out Liverpool, Aston Villa, and now Arsenal. That’s three English Premier League clubs in Europe’s elite competition, plus a group-stage win over Manchester City. Five English scalps. All in the same year. For a club from a league mocked for having too much sunshine and too little bite.
Suddenly, the ‘farmer’ looks a little more like a lion.
And yet, the question lingers: is the French Ligue 1 truly a farmer’s league?
Let’s be honest, the French Ligue 1 has helped build this perception all on its own. Since Qatari money transformed Paris Saint-Germain into a superclub and took over in 2011, they’ve won the French league title 11 times, that’s 11 of 14. Some of those campaigns felt less like title races and more like sponsored processions. The 2015-16 season saw PSG win the league by a ridiculous 31 points. That’s not a gap, but a footballing fault line.
Even in those seasons they didn’t win it, Monaco’s miracle in 2016-17 and Lille’s stunning triumph in 2020-21, those stories were more about PSG slipping than true systemic competition. Ligue 1 has become so synonymous with PSG that you can almost forget the other 19 teams are professional clubs too.
It’s this imbalance that fuels the narrative.
Critics often point to PSG’s total dominance on home soil, but when it comes to European nights, the league’s record is far from convincing.
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PSG may fly the flag, but the rest of Ligue 1 struggles to make much of an impact. Lyon’s run to the Champions League semi-finals in 2020 was commendable, but they were easily outclassed by Bayern. Marseille reached the Europa League final in 2018, a solid achievement, but they were comfortably second-best to Atletico Madrid. Monaco’s 2017 fairytale, led by Mbappé and Fabinho, now feels like a distant memory.
This season, outside of Lille and Lyon, clubs like Brest, Monaco, and Nice didn’t have it so high across Europe.
So while PSG zoom ahead like a Ferrari, the rest of the league is stuck in neutral, paddling along with nowhere near the same firepower.
Ligue 1 may not deserve its barren reputation. As one of Europe’s youngest leagues, it excels as a launchpad for talent.
The league is bursting with talent, but there’s little time for players to build legacies. Ligue 1 isn’t the destination.
The paradox is that a league that produces so much quality, yet struggles to retain enough of it to build sustained European success.
So, can PSG’s potential Champions League win end the ‘farmers league’ label? Not so. One club can’t change a league’s structure. PSG’s run to the final is historic, but it highlights the massive gap in resources between them and the rest. No other French side could probably do what they’ve done without a miracle or a billionaire.
So, on the question of if it is still the ‘Farmers League’?
It depends what you mean.
If you’re talking about a league with a one-horse race, where one club dominates financially and the rest are just trying to survive,then yes, that version of Ligue 1 exists. It’s hard to deny.
But if you mean a league lacking quality, stories, or pressure, then no. That version only exists in memes and lazy banter.
The truth is messier. Ligue 1 is flawed but evolving. The TV deals are smaller, stadiums aren’t always full, and it lacks the global pull. But it still matters. It still develops talent. And every now and then, it produces seasons like this one, where PSG aren’t just defying the odds, they’re rewriting them.
Luis Enrique knew what he was doing when he leaned into the joke. Maybe it’s time the rest of us stopped laughing.
