The club, six times champion of France, will he manage to avoid judicial liquidation? In financial difficulty, Bordeaux sees the hope of a maintenance in L2 reborn, thanks to the conciliators of the CNOSF, seized in emergency a few days before the start of the season, scheduled for Saturday.
In its conciliation, of which AFP obtained a copy, the CNOSF “proposes the FFF to report the decision of its appeal commission of the DNCG (the financial policeman of French football, editor’s note) of July 5, 2022”, which had confirmed the demotion of the Girondins to National, the 3rd professional level. In other words, to reconsider its decision.
From now on, it is therefore up to the Executive Committee of the Federation to study the conciliation proposal. The FFF plans to convene its “Comex” on Wednesday, for a decision rendered the same day, she told AFP.
If the executive committee follows the advice of the CNOSF conciliators, Bordeaux will be officially maintained in L2 and will be able to start its season on Saturday against Valenciennes. But he can also oppose it by maintaining the demotion, in which case the Girondins will have to turn to the administrative court, in summary, to try to snatch a favorable decision in extremis just before the start of the 2022 season. 23.
– “Significant efforts” –
The conciliation of the CNOSF is already a small victory for the club of Gérard Lopez. “It’s a favorable decision, we welcome it. The relief is obvious, but it’s not over,” a source close to the club told AFP.
Indeed, the conciliators “found that the applicant club made significant efforts to present the elements allowing to remove a certain number of doubts (…) so that the measure pronounced today appears excessive “, they indicate in their opinion.
The conciliators “intend nevertheless to invite the applicant club to submit to the reinforced control of the management control commissions if they deem it useful to undertake it during the sports season”.
The CNOSF was thus convinced by the argument of the Girondin club, which came to plead its case for more than three hours Thursday in Paris by the voice of its Spanish-Luxembourgish president Gérard Lopez.
The Bordeaux leader has multiplied media appearances in recent days to try to save this monument in danger of French football, supported locally by elected officials and local parliamentarians.
The businessman had notably been able to count on a judgment approving his rescue plan by the Bordeaux commercial court, sealing the agreements concluded between the Girondins and their American creditors King Street and Fortress about the debt, which was reduced by 75% (from 53 million to 13.5 million euros), and the sequestration of 24 million euros (10 in capital increase, 14 in guarantee of player sales during the transfer window ).
The sale on Thursday of promising striker Sekou Mara, transferred to Southampton for 13 million euros, has also taken care of the fragile finances of the club with the scapular, which now dreams of winning its race against the clock against sports bodies.
For several weeks, the Girondin leaders have been insisting that a demotion to National would sign the death warrant of the club, probably forced, in the long term, to file for bankruptcy which would threaten 300 jobs.
