Bordeaux on the brink of dropping out of professional football ahead of DNCG hearing

France’s sixth-most successful club likely has only a handful of hours left in professional football. Bordeaux, who have played in Ligue 2 for the last 2 seasons, have been left crippled by a €42m deficit, which prompted the DNCG – French football’s financial watchdog – to relegate the team to the third-tier Championnat National earlier this month.

Les Girondins‘ imminent demise is the result of over a decade of decline both on and off the pitch. A drawn-out handover in 2018 by long-time owners M6 to American investment firms GACP and King Street brought initial optimism. After disagreements between the two funds, though, the latter would become sole owners before eventually withdrawing from any investment in 2021. Their debts were estimated at €100m at that point.

The DNCG first demoted Bordeaux to the third division that summer, when the team suffered relegation from the top flight aftee finishing rock bottom and conceding 91 goals over the campaign. Spanish-Luxembourgish businessman Gérard Lopez, who had unceremoniously left Lille shortly before, would take over just as the club was on the verge of bankruptcy. A debt restructuring plan, aided by player sales, saved the club at that point, but after consecutive unsuccessful attempts at a swift return to Ligue 1, the financial situation has remained precarious.

This summer, the prospect of a takeover by Fenway Sports Group offered some short-lived optimism – even if it would have meant becoming a secondary cog of a multi-club ownership system. Reports of the Liverpool owners’ interest first broke on the eve of Bordeaux’s first DNCG hearing of the summer, and offered a glimmer of hope as the club were duly demoted. 

A week on, talks had broken down, with stadium costs and the general state of French football cited by the two parties as insurmountable obstacles. Two days later, Lopez outlined three possible scenarios in an interview with AFP: either a last-minute investor shows, the club goes into administration and drops out of professional football, or it disappears entirely. The possibility of covering the deficit with an investment of his own has ostensibly never been on the table.

Against all expectations, FSG returned to the negotiating table on Monday, less than 24 hours before the club’s second and final hearing with the DNCG. Bolstered by a promise from the city council to wipe debts related to the use of the stadium and revise the team’s rent, a last-minute upturn in fortunes appeared to be on the cards. The renewed optimism would only last a few hours, though, with the council’s assurances reportedly not proving enough of a financial guarantee for the potential buyers to lock in for now.

With the club’s representatives showing up to this morning’s hearing empty-handed, Bordeaux are now on the brink of disaster. Administration and a likely relegation to the fourth tier would lead to job losses and the end of the youth academy that in recent years alone has produced French internationals Aurélien Tchouaméni and Jules Koundé.

Over a decade of mismanagement and shoddy takeovers has slowly brought the 2009 Ligue 1 champions to the precipice. The DNCG is set to provide the final push into the abyss this morning.

GFFN | Raphaël Jucobin