Girondins de Bordeaux relegated to French amateur football

Girondins de Bordeaux, a six-time champion of France's top football league, will now compete in the amateur sixth division after the Administrative Court of Paris rejected their appeal to stay in the fourth tier. The club's demotion to the Regional 1 league marks a new low in its ongoing administrative and sporting crisis that began in 2022.

The club's decline has been steep. After winning its last Ligue 1 title in 2009 and reaching the Champions League quarterfinals the following year, Bordeaux has faced successive relegations. In 2022, it dropped to Ligue 2. Two years later, burdened by at least 88 million euros in debt, it was relegated to the third division following sanctions from the French Directorate General for Control and Management (DNGC).

"The Bordeaux club notes with regret the decision rendered this Friday by the Administrative Court of Paris, rejecting the request presented by the club and its new investors," the institution communicated via its social media channels. This statement followed the court's ruling on August 21, 2026, which confirmed the club's move to amateur football.

Despite a change in ownership in 2021 when Spanish businessman Gerard López took over, the club declared bankruptcy in 2024, losing its professional status after 87 years. Even a recent acquisition by British fund Sparta Capital on August 3, which aimed to prevent liquidation, failed to provide the necessary financial guarantees. The club stated that it would "study, as soon as possible, all available avenues of appeal."

This is not the first time López has been involved in a club's crisis. He was also associated with Boavista in Portugal and Royal Excel Mouscron in Belgium, both of which faced significant financial and administrative issues under his leadership, leading to loss of professional licenses and suspension of activities.