The Paris Administrative Court confirmed on Friday, August 21, the exclusion of Girondins de Bordeaux from French national football leagues due to financial mismanagement.
The ruling rejects an appeal by the club's new owners and leaves the six-time French champions facing potential judicial liquidation if their buyer pulls out of the takeover deal.
The administrative court represented the final legal avenue for the club to avoid demotion to Régional 1, the sixth tier of French football.
Rejection of New Financial Plan
During a hearing on Thursday, August 20, lawyers representing the club's new owner presented arguments concerning new financial viability. However, judges at the tribunal dismissed those claims, upholding the decision originally issued in July by French football authorities.
The penalty had been imposed by the Direction Nationale du Contrôle de Gestion, the watchdog responsible for monitoring the finances of professional football clubs in France. The decision was subsequently confirmed on appeal prior to the club's sale.
Bordeaux later referred the case to the French National Olympic and Sports Committee, known as the CNOSF, but the advisory body chose not to challenge the ruling of the financial regulators.
According to the court statement, the summary judge noted that governing regulations permit the watchdog to consider financial documents or commitments only if they are fully materialized on the date of the appeal hearing.
Takeover Deal and Investor Commitments
The over-indebted club was purchased at the end of July by Sparta Capital, a British investment fund owned by three French financiers. The fund acquired Girondins de Bordeaux for a symbolic fee of one euro from Spanish-Luxembourgish businessman Gerard Lopez.
To address the financial deficit that caused the original relegation, Sparta Capital deposited 10.6 million euros into the Caisse des Dépôts, a French public financial institution.
Representatives for the buyer stated that had the club been allowed to remain in National 1, the third tier of French football, the fund had a further 10 million euros available in reserve to stabilize operations. Sparta Capital had also pledged an additional 20 million euros specifically to clear existing debts.
Threat of Liquidation and Amateur Future
The ruling puts the entire takeover in jeopardy. In an email sent to the media on Thursday, Sparta Capital lawyers Stéphane Bonichot, Pierre Olivier Sur and Thomas Clay warned that if the club remained in the sixth division, the takeover project would end and the club would face liquidation.
If judicial liquidation occurs, Bordeaux would lose its commercial identity and revert to an amateur associative structure. The association is currently headed by Jean-Louis Triaud, who previously served as club president between 1996 and 2017.
In an interview published Tuesday in the regional newspaper Sud-Ouest, Triaud stated that the association could run the club for a season and that there was no immediate pressure to form a new professional structure.
A Historic Fall From Grace
Founded over a century ago, FC Girondins de Bordeaux is one of the most successful teams in French football history, having won six top-flight league titles. However, the club based in south-western France has suffered a severe downfall in recent years due to persistent sporting and financial crises.
Bordeaux suffered sporting relegation from Ligue 1 to Ligue 2 in 2022. By 2024, worsening financial distress forced the club into judicial receivership, resulting in the surrender of its professional status and the closure of its famous youth academy.
