Former French Ligue 1 champions Bordeaux announced on Thursday that the club will transition to an amateur team for the first time in nearly 90 years following their bankruptcy filing.
Earlier this week, Bordeaux accepted their relegation to the third-tier Championnat National, as mandated by French football's financial oversight body, the DNCG.
Based in southwestern France, Bordeaux last secured one of their six top-flight titles in 2009. The club had been professional since 1937.
To address its financial crisis, the club needs to secure 40 million euros ($43.6 million). Negotiations with Liverpool's owners, Fenway Sports Group (FSG), were unsuccessful as the American investors withdrew from talks earlier this month.
In a statement, the club revealed that on Tuesday, it filed for bankruptcy with Bordeaux's commercial court to commence necessary restructuring. The statement also mentioned that Bordeaux had to forgo its request to maintain professional status to avoid potential "heavy sanctions" from the DNCG if the presented recovery plan did not align with its financial reality.
Relegated to Ligue 2 in 2022, Bordeaux's drop is notable given their previous Champions League quarter-final appearance just 12 years prior.
The town's mayor, Pierre Hurmic, criticized Bordeaux’s controversial owner, Gerard Lopez, who has invested 60 million euros into the club since 2021. Hurmic expressed dismay over Lopez’s decision, citing it as indicative of the risky management that has led the club from Ligue 1 to amateur status within three years.
Notable players who have been associated with Bordeaux include World Cup winners Zinedine Zidane, Bixente Lizarazu, and Christophe Dugarry, as well as Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni. Lizarazu expressed his distress over the situation on Instagram, attributing it to "disastrous football and financial management for many years."
As a result of the transition, Bordeaux's academy will shut down, and many professional players will depart. The new Championnat National season is set to begin on August 16, with Bordeaux expected to play at their 42,000-capacity Matmut Atlantique stadium, France’s sixth-largest, for the upcoming campaign.