The outcome of the Ligue 2 season was played off the pitch. And in this game, Bordeaux – which misses the rise in Ligue 1 – and Annecy, relegated to National by ricochet, are the two losers at the end of the championship.

Monday, June 12, the Disciplinary Committee of the Professional Football League (LFP) decided to sanction the Girondins de Bordeaux for the loss by penalty of their meeting against Rodez, as well as the withdrawal of a firm point for the next season and of the closure for two firm matches and two suspended matches of the southern stand of the Matmut Atlantique.

Friday, June 2, during the 38th and final day of the championship, the aggression by a Bordeaux supporter of the Rodez striker, Lucas Buades, author of the opening of the mark against the Girondins, had led to the stoppage of the match between the two teams. Three days later, the disciplinary body had decided to place the case under investigation and not to ratify the result of the match at the time.

This meeting was crucial for the two clubs since Bordeaux – in the fight with Metz – played its rise in Ligue 1 and Rodez – in the fight with Annecy – its maintenance in Ligue 2. At 1-0 for the Ruthénois, score of the game at the time of his interruption, the Bordelais of President Gérard Lopez missed their objective while his opponent escaped relegation.

To justify its decision, the LFP Disciplinary Committee referred to “the seriousness of the facts” and noted “the intrusion of a supporter to deliberately physically harm a player who had just scored a goal”.

Last season, several events involving supporters led to fairly strong sanctions for their clubs. After a hectic match between Nice and Olympique de Marseille in August 2021, in particular a bottle throw and an invasion of the field by ultras from Nice, the Nice people had been sanctioned with two penalty points (one of which was suspended). After a bottle throw that hit Dimitri Payet in November 2021 during an OL-OM, Olympique Lyonnais also lost a point in the standings. These two encounters had both been replayed.

Annecy victim of the decision by ricochet

Far from keeping a low profile, the Girondins de Bordeaux, whose financial situation is difficult and would be even more so in the event of failure to join the most profitable Ligue 1, had published a strange press release on Saturday to announce the filing of a complaint against Rodez for “violation of the rules relating to sports ethics and fair play”, publicly doubting the reality of the concussion of Ruthenian Lucas Buades.

“During Friday evening and over the following days, the RAF [Rodez Aveyron Football] teams also put forward various elements which turned out to be false and contrary to sporting ethics, in particular concerning the hospitalization of the player victim of the fall and the impossibility of resuming the meeting when the security conditions were met”, had defended the Girondin club.

The decision to give the match lost to Bordeaux risks dissatisfying the Hauts-Savoyards of Annecy, relegated to National by ricochet – where FC Metz officially validates its rise in Ligue 1. Before the meeting of the commission, the president of Annecy, Sébastien Faraglia, developed the idea that if “no violence on a pitch should take place”, on the other hand “taking advantage of external events to profit from them such as maintaining your club, by betraying football, is also contrary to the sporting ethics”.

The manager also protested against the hypothesis of a match won on the green carpet by the RAF (Rodez Aveyron Football), “because it is the most elaborate form of cheating, which is very serious”. Comments then qualified as “inadmissible” by the Rodez club.

This soap opera is not yet finished since Bordeaux has decided to bring the matter before the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF): “The LFP Disciplinary Committee today pronounced a decision as incomprehensible as it is disproportionate, both in with regard to the elements of the file and the case law. FC Girondins de Bordeaux will contact the CNOSF as soon as possible to defend its rights and sporting fairness. “A third club, Annecy could also try to appeal to challenge this sporting outcome in the courts.