July 5 – Lurching from crisis to crisis, French football has been rocked again after the Direction Nationale du Contrôle de Gestion (DNCG) temporarily demoted both Bordeaux and Angers to Ligue 2 and placed Nantes under supervision.
Girondins have been finalizing a takeover by Gerard Lopez, the former owner of Lille. The c the club has financially struggled to keep afloat in recent seasons, a situation compounded by the impact of the global health crisis. Bordeaux said they would appeal the decision immediately.
In April, the club was placed under the control of a local commercial court following the decision by King Street, who succeeded M6 as the majority stakeholder in the club in a €70 million takeover in 2018, to withdraw. King Street invested €46 million in Bordeaux, but no longer “wished to support the club and finance its current and future needs”. However Lopez emerged as a new saviour even if losses were reaching €80 million.
In a statement Bordeaux said that it was “hopeful that the takeover project presented to the DNCG, for which no major dispute was raised concerning the required financing, will allow this sanction to be lifted.”
Angers is not subject to a takeover, but the club was also demoted. “The president of Angers SCO has taken note of this decision,” the club wrote in a statement. “Angers SCO has already announced that it will appeal the decision taken by the French football control body.”
Club president Saïd Chabane indicated that the DNCG was waiting for the club to produce a document in order to complete the audit. Nantes will be subject to a “wage framework”, like Olympique Marseille.
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