[retired_jaydeschizo]

Wiltord to stick with Lyon

Sylvain Wiltord is to remain with French champions Olympique Lyonnais after a transfer to Stade Rennais FC broke down over personal terms.

No agreement
The 33-year-old striker, who has scored 26 goals in 92 international appearances for France, will remain under contract at Lyon until next summer after vetoing the move to Rennes, his first professional club. "He could have gone," said Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas. "Everything was OK between us and Rennes and they just had to find an agreement with the player, but they did not."

Troubled season
The striker joined Lyon in the summer of 2004 after a three-and-a-half year spell at Arsenal FC, and proved to be a valuable acquisition as they won the 2004/05 and 2005/06 French titles. However, he was less effective during last season's Ligue 1 triumph due to a combination of injuries and wrangles with coach Gérard Houllier over club discipline.

Positive start
Lyon, who enter the UEFA Champions League at the group stage, will kick off the defence of their Ligue 1 title against AJ Auxerre on Sunday with confidence high after defeating FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 2-1 in the Trophée des champions on Saturday. Goals from Sidney Govou and new captain Cris made sure of the win in a game that saw Fabio Grosso, Kader Keita and Mathieu Bodmer all make their debuts for Lyon.

Barul leaves Lens for Nice

UEFA Intertoto Cup winners RC Lens have allowed right-back Patrick Barul to join OGC Nice, with the 29-year-old signing a two-year contract.

Riviera experience
No fee has been released for Barul, who played in 12 Ligue 1 games for Lens last season. Barul is no stranger to the French Riviera as he started his career as a trainee at AS Cannes and was loaned to Nice in 2002/03, two years before he joined Lens. Guy Roux's Lens earned a place in Friday's UEFA Cup second qualifying round draw after winning 3-1 on aggregate against FC Chornomorets Odesa in the third and final round of the UEFA Intertoto Cup.

[retired_hvporter]

Going to watch Lyon in their season-opener at home to Auxerre this Sunday; ordered my ticket yesterday. Should be a good match. :thup:

[retired_jaydeschizo]

Metz return thrills Strasser

Luxembourg defender Jeff Strasser was delighted to sign a two-year deal with FC Metz, the French club where he began his career more than a decade ago.

Spell in Germany
The 32-year-old had been released after one season by RC Strasbourg, who finished second in Ligue 2 behind his new club last term, but was quickly snapped up by Metz coach Francis De Taddeo. "I feel like I did 12 years ago," said Strasser, who started his career with Metz in 1993/94. "I'm happy to be back." Strasser, who has won 79 international caps, left the Lorraine club in summer 1999 and subsequently spent three years at 1. FC Kaiserslautern and four at VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach, where he captained the side.

´

Fernando renews ties with Bordeaux

FC Girondins de Bordeaux have agreed to extend Fernando Menegazzo's contract by a year, keeping the midfielder at the club until June 2011 as they prepare for UEFA Cup action.

Popular player
Signed from Italian side Calcio Catania in 2005 by the club's former coach and fellow Brazilian Ricardo Gomes, now at AS Monaco FC, Fernando has scored seven goals in 63 league games for Bordeaux. The 26-year-old former EC Juventude and Grêmio FBPA player recently won the Copa América with Brazil but his performances in last season's UEFA Champions League were overshadowed by his dismissal for head-butting Liverpool FC's John Arne Riise. Now coached by Laurent Blanc, French League Cup winners Bordeaux will enter the UEFA Cup in the first round. They start their Ligue 1 campaign on Saturday against RC Lens.

[cbhoyhern]

Its nice when countries like France start their league campaign early, doesnt get over shadowed by the premiership.

Cant wait, trying to find if there's any coverage at all in the the UK.

[retired_deepapathu]

First round of fixtures nearly complete, Valenciennes top the table.

Strasbourg 0-0 Marseille
Bordeaux 1-0 Lens
Caen 1-0 Nice
Lille 0-0 Lorient
Monaco 1-1 Saint Etienne
Paris SG 0-0 Sochaux
Rennes 0-2 Nancy
Valenciennes 3-1 Toulouse
Le Mans 1-0 Metz

Lyon - Auxerre kicks off shortly.

Not the best start for PSG, plenty chances but no breakthrough. And also for those in the UK and with Sky, last season the highlights program they show on Canal+ was being shown on TV5 Europe. I forget the name of it, but i'll try see if it's available this year. Channel Five also supposedly showing highlights but cant find any listings.

[retired_snsflip]

Lyon vs. Auxerre is live on Setanta Sports 1 (channel 429 on Sky).

[retired_deepapathu]

Setanta Almost tempted now to part with the £10 a month or whatever it is. TV5 Europe don't have 'Jour de Foot' on any of their listings over the next few weeks. And I still can't find any evidence of Channel 5 showing highlights, although frenchleague.com says otherwise.

[retired_Rosangela carv]

HT: Lyon 1-0 Auxerre
(Baros)

Lyon completely in control of the game. How much did they pay for Kader Keita btw?

[retired_gitfresh]

18 million euros.

[retired_denise.lovegrove]

cracker from benzema