Unfavorable opinion. While FC Sochaux-Montbéliard supporters finally thought their club was saved, the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) dashed all their hopes by issuing an unfavorable opinion on keeping FCSM in Ligue 2. Football towards bankruptcy, said a local elected official. The CNOSF was not convinced by the takeover project led by Romain Peugeot, great-grandson of the founder of the almost century-old club, declared to AFP the president of Greater Belfort, Damien Meslot, whose agglomeration had planned to bring one million euros to the FCSM.
Romain Peugeot had presented his takeover project to the CNOSF on Monday following the withdrawal of the Chinese shareholder, the real estate group Nenking, in great financial difficulty. “It is a great sadness and a great disappointment because the club remains in the hands of Nenking who will file for bankruptcy,” said Damien Meslot.
The French Football Federation (FFF) and its National Management Control Department (DNCG) demanded from the FCSM a budget of 12 million euros in order to meet its expenses. But “the CNOSF considered that the assembly proposed by Romain Peugeot and its investors had arrived too late and that it did not justify reviewing the decision taken by the DNCG”, according to Damien Meslot, a few days before the resumption of the championship on Saturday of L2.
The Sochaux club, 9th in Ligue 2 at the end of the last exercise, was demoted to National by the DNCG.
