Parliamentarians call on the government to save the Girondins de Bordeaux

Europe 1 with AFP 4:05 p.m., July 11, 2022

Ten parliamentarians from Gironde, denouncing the "death sentence" that the Girondins de Bordeaux risk, asked the Minister of Sports on Monday to "seize the subject" and receive a delegation from the club demoted to the third division of French football.

In an open letter addressed to Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the senators and deputies affirm that "we cannot resolve ourselves" to "the death warrant of our club, its judicial liquidation".

"It would be deeply unfair if a club which provides numerous guarantees could not be authorized to join the second men's division by making the required corrections", add the elected signatories, including the radical Nathalie Delattre, vice-president of the Senate.

300 jobs at risk

Sportingly relegated to Ligue 2 at the end of last season, Bordeaux was downgraded to National (3rd division) by the DNCG, the French football management controller, after examining the club's finances.

The decision was confirmed last week on appeal, but the Girondins will appeal to the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF).

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"While the club obviously wishes to seize the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) in order to propose conciliation to the French Football Federation (...), the government must take up the subject", adds the letter.

"Three hundred direct jobs and at least as many indirect jobs depend on it, and it's a whole territory that intends to fight", write the elected officials, calling on the minister to receive "as soon as possible, a delegation mandated by the club" .

"To condemn the club is to put an end to the activity of a women's team which has several international players in its ranks", notes the text in full Women's Euro football in England.

"The State is not legitimate to intervene in the processing of this file"

The letter is also signed by presidential majority deputies Thomas Cazenave, Florent Boudié, Pascal Lavergne, Sophie Mette, Sophie Panonacle and Éric Poulliat and senators Alain Cazabonne (Centrist Union), Florence Lassarade (LR) and Monique de Marco (EELV).

After the decision of the financial gendarme of football, the Minister of Sports had declared in a press release released Thursday that "the State is not legitimate to intervene in the treatment of this file", noting the "precise legal framework" of the sports authorities , in which the state has no place.

She also received a letter from two judicial administrators appointed by the Commercial Court of Bordeaux to lead the conciliation process launched by the club on June 13.

The letter also sent to the FFF

In their letter, also sent to the president of the French Federation (FFF) Noël Le Graët, and of which AFP has read, the conciliators denounce "obvious errors" in the reasoned notification of the DNCG appeal committee.

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They note in particular that the latter "does not attach any legal value" to the order of the Commercial Court of Bordeaux, which points out that the Girondins are not in default of payment.

They evoke the "seriousness of the restructuring" and "the approval of the agreements with the creditors (King Street and Fortress)".