Canal Football Club collapses, Pierre Menes returns to it

Since the start of the season, the viewership numbers for Canal Football Club (CFC) have been less than stellar, even though Canal+ brought in Bertrand Latour and Margot Dumont to revive the show. Pierre Menes isn’t surprised.

Aware that CFC was starting to lose momentum last season, the encrypted channel decided during the summer to recruit two additional journalists, including Bertrand Latour, who was supposed to be the show’s sharp-shooter on the Sunday set. However, the formula hasn’t quite clicked, and with the exception of the Sunday evening when Kylian Mbappe’s interview was aired, CFC’s viewership has been hovering around 320,000 viewers. This is a far cry from the massive numbers the show used to pull in during its heyday.

For context, in December 2009, CFC reached a record of 2 million viewers. When asked about the impact of his absence on the show’s declining viewership, Pierre Ménès chose to remain modest, though he acknowledged that his departure from Canal+ likely cost CFC some viewers.

Audience Divided by Three: Pierre Ménès’ Explanation

“If we look solely at the viewership numbers, between my era and today’s audience, CFC’s viewership has been divided by three. That’s the strict analysis of the numbers. However, we must not forget that in my time, the show included all the Ligue 1 highlights and was almost entirely dedicated to Ligue 1, with a bit of Premier League coverage when Canal+ acquired the rights. Now, there’s not a single image of Ligue 1 on CFC, and I think it’s an editorial mistake to give so much airtime to English football in prime time on Sunday evenings—people don’t really care.

But I know there’s a political decision not to give too much space to Ligue 1 because, ultimately, CFC could build something entirely around Ligue 1 with reports, guests, interviews, and real debates. However, Canal doesn’t want to offer Ligue 1 a platform that’s bigger than that. I won’t pretend to be modest, and I also think some people have stopped watching because I’m no longer there, but that’s not the majority,” shared the former star of Canal Football Club on his YouTube channel.