The third round of Ligue 1, the top-tier football league in France, will start earlier than usual. The match between Toulouse and Lille is now scheduled for Thursday evening at 8:45 pm. This change was requested by Ligue 1+, the league’s only broadcaster, to make room for the start of the UEFA Champions League group stage, which begins on Tuesday, September 8, and ends on Thursday, September 10. The adjustment aims to give French clubs more than three days to prepare for their European matches. Toulouse and Lille are currently on a draw in the league, with Toulouse having tied against Brest and Lille having drawn against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). The third round of Ligue 1 will be played over four days, with three regular matches scheduled for Sunday to wrap up the round. However, the Saturday evening multiplex, which usually features four matches, will only include two this time due to scheduling conflicts. The early start of the Ligue 1 round was planned in anticipation of Lyon potentially qualifying for the Champions League. However, Lyon did not qualify after losing their return play-off match against Fenerbahçe. If Lyon had qualified, they would have played their first Champions League match on Tuesday, September 8, alongside Lille, which will host Betis at 9 pm. PSG would have entered the competition the next day against Slovan Bratislava (9 pm), and Lens would have made its debut on September 10 against Slavia Prague (9 pm). This led to a scheduling challenge for the third round of Ligue 1. Lens, the last French club to qualify for the Champions League, will face Lorient this Saturday at 5:15 pm. However, PSG, Lille, and Lyon faced scheduling conflicts. Originally, if Lyon had qualified, their match against Auxerre was set for this Friday at 7 pm, while PSG’s match against Monaco was chosen for prime time at 9:05 pm. To avoid scheduling the Toulouse-Lille match at the same time as OL-Auxerre, Ligue 1+ proposed moving the Toulouse-Lille match to Thursday evening, a decision both teams agreed to.