Sad news from France: the Bordeaux football club is losing its professional status. Six-time national champion, the team where Zinedine Zidane and other world football stars launched their careers. The hope of Bordeaux’s salvation remained until the very end, but… Now a fan of this city, famous for its wine production, can only drown his sorrows in strong drinks. How did a popular club come to a sad end?
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As Sudouest.fr reports, Bordeaux refused the professional license acquired in 1937, so the team’s players will soon be given the status of free agents and the club’s training centre will be closed. Moreover, the decision was made before it was necessary to decide in which division Girondins will play next season. According to the source, the Bordeaux management has already notified the French Football Federation about its withdrawal from the professional division. For this reason, the hearings on the future of the club, scheduled for August 1, have been cancelled. The option of playing in the Third Division, where semi-professional and amateur teams participate alongside professional teams, is thus eliminated.
The automatic termination of players’ contracts means that Bordeaux will not be able to receive compensation for future transfers. 70 young footballers will leave the training centre, half of whom lived in the building. Last season, the club significantly reduced its wage bill, which amounted to €36m (including €25m for players and first-team staff), but suffered a net loss for the year of €40m.
The total amount of Bordeaux’s debts has risen to 90 million euros. Girondins’ president and owner Gerard Lopez will face a trial in the coming days. There are hopes that the debt will be frozen. But if a businessman does not guarantee that he has the funds to allow the company to continue its activities, in particular to pay the salaries to the remaining employees, the court will file a liquidation petition. Or Bordeaux will remain an amateur team and play at an even lower level with a new line-up.
GERARDO LOPEZ
Photo: Xavier Laine/Getty Images
The Girondins have spent the last two seasons in Ligue 2. Last season they finished in 12th place, so based on their results on the football field they would have kept their place in the second division. But the hole in my wallet left me no other choice. By the way, the total value of the Bordeaux squad, according to Transfermarkt, is 22.4 million euros. The team has six players from the first national teams of different countries, a participant in the 2024 Olympic Games and a group of footballers from the youth teams of France – all of them will be on the free agent market, and someone will get it for free.
Bordeaux’s problems began after the American company King Street acquired the club in December 2019. The new owners invested €46 million in the Girondins, however, a year and a half later, King Street refused to support Bordeaux due to the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic (the 2019/2020 season ended early; the club lost part of its planned income) and the departure of Ligue 1 television rights holder Mediapro led to serious debts. Bordeaux then went under external management.
The Americans were criticised by the city’s mayor, Pierre Hurmik. “Unfortunately, this was not a big surprise for me,” said the Bordeaux director. – From the beginning it seemed that the acquisition of the club would not guarantee its stability. I voted against it in 2018. Now this is confirmed. We must do everything possible to find a solution that guarantees the stable life of the club.”
In the summer of 2021, Bordeaux was bought by its current owner López, who over the years has invested 58 million euros. Under his leadership, the team was relegated from Ligue 1 and finished last in the 2021/2022 season. The financial situation did not improve and this summer it became known that the Club would be relegated to the third division. Bordeaux was going to challenge the decision of the DNCG (French football’s financial body), but in the end López accepted and decided to give up his professional status.
Another American company, Fenway Sports Group, which owns Liverpool, could have saved Bordeaux. The parties negotiated the sale of the club, but FSG still refused to invest in the risky business. After this, a group of Bordeaux fans, the Ultramarines, appealed for help to anyone willing to do something to save the Girondins. But there were no people willing to invest.
Fenway Sports Group President Mike Gordon (left) at the Liverpool game.
Photo: Liverpool FC via Getty Images
A week ago, Bordeaux owner Lopez broke his silence since October last year and spoke in an interview with AFP about the current situation: “The situation now requires an investment of 42 million euros. That is why we wanted to cooperate with someone who can do it. Share the risk… The first was an investment fund, which in January wanted to be confident that we would fight for promotion. We could not offer this guarantee. The second was a bank that in March wanted a guarantee that Bordeaux would not be relegated to the third division. But we will only be able to guarantee this at the end of the season.”
“Then Fenway Sports Group contacted us again in April and two important details emerged. Firstly, the club’s operating costs, mainly those of the stadium, divided between rent and debt (estimated at 42.5 million euros). The second aspect is the most catastrophic for us. The pending issue of television rights. That is why FSG refused.”
According to Lopez, if the club is relegated to the lower amateur divisions, it will take several years to recover.
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Interestingly, one of Bordeaux’s last rivals in European competition was Russian champions Zenit. In the 2018/2019 season, Girondins finished third in the Europa League group stage alongside Sergei Semak’s team, Czech side Slavia and Danish side Copenhagen. Since then, Bordeaux have not appeared in European competitions and it is unknown whether they will appear again.
