Image from 2016 of the Gaston-Petit stadium in Châteauroux here during a cup match against Bordeaux.
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G. Souvant / AFP
They are last in Ligue 2 and have just chained four defeats in a row.
With six points behind the penultimate and eight on the barrage, the players of Châteauroux seem very badly on board to stay within the French second division.
One of the most capped clubs in Ligue 2 could however become a big one.
This Monday, the Berrichonne will enter a new era with the acquisition by the Saudi prince Abdallah ben Moussaed, already owner of the club Sheffield United, current last of the Premier League in England.
A crazy bet.
This rich investor said he had given the green light to the CEO of his United World group to "conclude the agreement with Châteauroux" which he hopes to "go up quickly" despite the club's current difficulties.
Marco Simone new coach?
The new agreement should be formalized on Monday at an extraordinary general meeting and should be accompanied by a major reshuffle in the organizational chart of the Indre club.
Our colleagues from the Republican Berry mention in particular the arrival of Marco Simone on the bench.
Former Monaco coach, the Italian has since chained failures in Lausanne, Tours and Laval.
The former AC Milan striker became a coach in Thailand in 2019.
He will have ten games left to save a place in Ligue 2. A huge challenge as the schedule will be complicated against the leaders of the division like Troyes, Clermont, Toulouse, Grenoble and Sochaux.
The prospect of Châteauroux's relegation does not seem to worry the Saudi investor, however: “Our project is not to buy third division clubs, we buy in the first division, Sheffield United (rising from Championship to the Premier League) was the exception, and now Châteauroux is the exception ”, underlined Prince Moussaed.
"We found that there was a possibility of relegation, but we have the possibility of recovering quickly, and in a few years we will be at the highest level in France", hopes Prince Moussaed, a fan of Michel Platini who says he is following French football since his childhood.
A former paper industry worker
The prince, whose personal fortune is estimated at 200 million euros, first took a majority stake in Belgian club Beerschot in 2018. He then added Kerala United FC (Indian D2) and Al -Hilal United (Emirati D2) in Dubai in 2020. Long engaged in the paper industry, Prince Moussaed switched to sport ten years ago.
He recently explained that he plans to acquire "between six and eight clubs" in total across the world.
Châteauroux has in its ranks some players trained at the club and passed through Ligue 1 such as Gilles Sunu (Angers, Evian…) or Razak Boukari (Lens, Rennes).
The club only reached the French first division once during the 1997-1998 season, when RC Lens gleaned their only French championship title.
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