Paris (France) (AFP) – The refusal of the extraordinary executive committee of the French Football Federation (FFF) to reopen on Thursday the case of the Girondins de Bordeaux, definitively demoted to the regional division, further darkened the future of this monument of French football, very close to liquidation.
Published on: 03/09/2026 - 22:43
Pressure from all sides will have been of no use. Whether those of the Girondins who saw all their appeals to stay in N2 (which became N1 this summer, 4th level) rejected, then that of the Minister of Sports Marina Ferrari who invited the president of the FFF Philippe Diallo to convene an extraordinary executive committee and "to find a way".
The “Comex” remained inflexible, refusing to re-examine the club’s scapular file.
"The reclassification or re-examination of the situation of the Girondins de Bordeaux was not possible in the state of our texts, specified a source close to the matter. The Federation therefore remained on the conclusion reached by the DNCG (the financial policeman of French football, editor's note) of appeal on July 15, namely the exclusion of the club from national competitions".
Fear of jurisprudence
If "out of respect for the minister", the federal executive committee did meet, it was not legally possible for it to re-examine the situation of Bordeaux and its new buyers including Sparta Capital, a British investment fund which promised to solidly replenish the club's coffers in the event of continuation.
The “Comex” did not wish to create jurisprudence and a break in fairness with the other clubs already involved in the competition even if the case and the requests of the Bordeaux club constitute a unique case in the history of French football.
“The Federation is not responsible for the 118 million euros in losses recorded by the Girondins de Bordeaux in recent years. It is not responsible for the fact that the buyers, as we speak, have still not provided the Federation's services with solid financial guarantees,” insisted the federal source.
“The club is scandalized,” he said on his X account.
“The Executive Committee did not deliberate on the club's request, which was sent to it with all the documents (including proof of the 10.6 million euros requested to continue their activity in national divisions and provided by the new investors), and no vote took place. Pretending that there would be a rejection when the competent body has not even deliberated makes no sense,” he wrote.
“Huge waste”
For his part, the mayor of Bordeaux Thomas Cazenave estimated that the FFF is making a “deeply unfair decision, the consequences of which will go far beyond just the sporting field: it is a huge waste,” he wrote in a press release.
He regretted that "this file was not re-examined in the light of the new financial guarantees provided by the buyers, nor that of the decision of the Bordeaux commercial court which had nevertheless approved the continuation plan".
“These serious, documented elements, attested by the justice system itself, deserved a thorough examination rather than a closed door,” he added.
The sale of the club to Sparta Capital, for a symbolic euro at the beginning of August to Gerard Lopez, who arrived in 2021 when the Girondins were in Ligue 1, should be canceled, the fund having always agreed that remaining in the regional division would lead to the end of its takeover project and therefore the liquidation of the Girondins.
Unless a very unlikely buyer comes forward in the coming hours, the continuation plan will fall through and the commercial company will be liquidated immediately, putting an end to nearly 145 years of existence.
The sporting rights of the six-time French champion will be donated to the association, chaired by Jean-Louis Triaud, former president of the SASP from 1999 to 2016, and the club will be fixed on its fate and on the division (R1, R2 or R3 according to the precedents) which it will join this season after decision of the "Comex".
© 2026 AFP
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