the relegation of the Girondins de Bordeaux to National 1 confirmed on appeal by the DNCG

The Girondins have not finished tumbling. Sportingly relegated to Ligue 2, the Bordeaux club saw its administrative demotion to National 1 confirmed by the appeal committee of the National Management Control Department (DNCG), according to the minutes of the French Federation (FFF) consulted by AFP.

Bordeaux had been relegated by the DNCG, the policeman of French football, in mid-June, for financial reasons. This sanction condemns the Navy and White to evolve at the third national level, a first since 1937.

Arrived last summer after the withdrawal of King Street, the owner Gérard Lopez and his company Jogo Bonito could not straighten the accounts of a club riddled with debts. On RMC, the ex-president of Lille had declared on June 21 that he remained “22 million euros to find”.

The troubles shouldn’t end there. As it stands, the functioning of the club does not allow it to survive in National 1, a division in which no income from TV rights is guaranteed. “It would not be economically sustainable. The club could no longer do business. He would lose the manna of the investment fund CVC (Capital Partners) and the TV rights would be much lower, while the charges would remain enormous because we cannot reduce them all at once”, analyzed at franceinfo: sport the economist Jean-François Brocard.

“There is a risk of filing for bankruptcy”, conceded also Gérard Lopez on RMC. If this is the case, Bordeaux will have to go back to National 3, the fifth division of French football, where its reserve team played this year. It would be a historic downgrade for a club six times champion of France, finalist of the UEFA Cup in 1996, present continuously in the professional world since 1937.