Gignac underwent a groin operation in May and suffered a twinge in training on Monday. Coach Didier Deschamps is going to proceed carefully with the French international striker.

Deschamps: "Never easy"

Deschamps said: "He'll need a different training programme to the other players, and then he'll need time to get up to speed when he starts full training. It's never easy to get back after an operation to the adductors."

Created in 1995, the Trophée des Champions became, in 2009, a strategic arm in developing the image of Ligue 1 internationally. Via this first competitive match of the season, the LFP has instigated its promotion of French football overseas.

Tangiers for Trophée 

After Montreal in 2009 and Tunis in 2010, Tangiers in 2011 will set a new international broadcast record for a single competitive match of French club football. In total, the 2011 Trophée des Champions will be broadcast in 77 countries across the globe, in every continent.

The match will be shown across North Africa, throughout French and English speaking Africa and the Middle East. It will also be beamed into the United States, Canada, Brazil, Malaysia, Poland, Romania, Russia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.

This new broadcast record comes on the back of a 2010-11 season of incredible growth for Ligue 1 internationally.

TV boom 

Canal+ Events, the agency who currently sell the international Ligue 1 audiovisual rights, signed deals to broadcast in Italy (Sportitalia) and Germany (Eurosport), which compliment an already expansive 33-country coverage across Europe.

Ligue 1 enjoys excellent exposure in Central and South America. A series of deals signed at the start of the 2010-11 season see Ligue 1 broadcast on Televisa Deportes Network in Central America and on ESPN Latin America and Direct TV in Latin America.

Finally, Ligue 1 is continuing to develop in Asia thanks to new deals in Indonesia (Channel O), Japan (J-Sports), Hong Kong (Now TV) and Burma (Skynet).

Global reach 

Ligue 1 is now shown by 80 broadcasters in 180 countries across the globe and commentated in 54 languages.