It’s official: the Girondins de Bordeaux, sportingly relegated to Ligue 2 at the end of the past season, have been administratively demoted to National 1 – the third division of French football.
On June 14, the National Management Control Department (DNCG) announced the administrative relegation of Girondins of Bordeaux in National 1 – the third level of French football – less than a month after their sporting relegation to Ligue 2. A decision confirmed on appeal to the French Football Federation on Tuesday.
For lack of sufficient financial guarantees, the club chaired by Gerard Lopez is condemned to purgatory, with now a real threat of bankruptcy and compulsory liquidation. Over the past three weeks, the FCGB had worked to clear a debt of 40 million euros. Via the sale of players (Junior Onana, Alberth Elis, Sekou Mara, Hwang Ui-jo, etc.), an agreement with creditors (Fortress and King Street) ready to waive part of their due and even a capital increase through Jogo Bonito, the company of Gerard Lopez, through a new investment of 10 million euros. In vain.
Direction le National 3 ?
The Girondins – six-time French champions and winners of four Coupes de France and three Coupes de la Ligue – have a final possibility of appeal to the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) – an appeal they dared not imagine until then. Filing for bankruptcy would mean for Bordeaux a resumption in National 3, in the fifth division, with the immediate loss of professional status for the club. A test from which it is difficult to recover.