L'Équipe du Soir's New Format Panned by Viewers on Debut

L’Équipe du Soir’s new format received a frosty reception when it returned to air Tuesday evening. On social network X, negative comments flooded in, with many viewers deeming the show already doomed after just this first episode.

The central complaint centres on editorial direction. Internet users accused the show of prioritising conflict and buzz over serious tactical and sporting analysis. The debates in this first episode were branded superficial, the controversies artificial.

The new set also drew heavy criticism. Several viewers denounced a space too vast for four guests, tables arranged in a square leaving an imposing central void, and scenography deemed “bland” and “ugly”.

But it is above all the departure of historic figures that crystallised disappointment. Johan Micoud, Éric Blanc, Raymond Domenech, Vincent Duluc, Grégory Schneider and Sébastien Tarrago, among others, have left the show, and their absence is keenly felt. “L’Équipe du Soir has been stripped of its substance. Everything that made the soul of this show no longer exists,” one internet user summed up. Others were even more blunt: “They would have done better to stop the show rather than wreck it like this” or “it would have been simpler to stop the show rather than kill it with a completely uninteresting new format”.

The dominant sentiment on social media is that of a programme in its death throes. “We’re witnessing the end of EDS,” “Last season for L’Équipe du Soir”: funeral predictions are multiplying, and the channel’s management will need to quickly respond to this backlash if it hopes to convince beyond the first episode.