We were on an important day for the future of French football. This Tuesday, June 24, several historic clubs were interviewed by the DNCG. Among them, Olympique Lyonnais was obviously demoted to Ligue 2 when AC Ajaccio was sanctioned with an administrative relegation in National 1. Relegated sportingly in National 2, the Nîmes Olympique was excluded from all national competitions. Another team threatened with a sanction, that of the Girondins de Bordeaux came out with a less heavy punishment. A resident of National 2, the club at the scapular saw its payroll being supervised, but will not have a prohibition of recruitment or administrative demotion. A less dramatic situation, but not necessarily lasting to which the owner Gérard Lopez returned.
In an interview for Le Journal du Dimanchethe Luxembourg businessman has taken stock. While the Commercial Court of Bordeaux had validated the Girondins continuation plan in order to spread the debt over time (26 million euros over 10 years) and that it facilitated its passage before the DNCG, Gérard Lopez posted a satisfied mine. “”All we did was work on what we knew. We knew that it was necessary to maintain ourselves inside existing laws, and that if we did, there was no reason that it does not work. The laws do not exist for nothing. The work was done well, the teams worked very well, I am satisfied. Now the sportsman must answer“He said.
Gérard Lopez exposed his plan
Aware that the situation of the Girondins de Bordeaux is only temporarily adjusted, Gérard Lopez also knows that the club will have to get on sportingly to try to arrange its economic situation: “Today, the hardest part remains, because the reality of football is the field. And there, all together, we have been bad in recent seasons. Today, we are in the fourth division and at a given time, we will have to be right on the field too.To do this, he presented the main lines of the 2025/2026 workforce with the desire to have a competitive team, but well suited to the requirements of the National 2: “It's high enough for National 2, but we are the Girondins de Bordeaux. It is reasonable in terms of structures. We are going on a group of 23, 24 players with seven or eight experienced players who know the national. We will have five, six players just a little below, capable of performing without problem.»
Wanting to bet on young people and offer a competitive group and quickly ready to his coach Bruno Irlès, Gérard Lopez also confirmed it: “Of course, he took the first step. I wanted to give everyone a little time to resume their minds a little. It was Bruno who took the lead, who sent me a message where he explained to me that he was hypermotivated. I had not yet made my decision at that time. It is on the basis of a fairly long exchange with him that we decided, with sports management, to continue together. We probably had the right people last season, but we didn't have the right timing. This year, we give ourselves every chance to succeed. With these people, we will try to go up directly because it is an obligation.»
Aiming the direct climb and wishing to bring the club back to Ligue 1 for 2030, the former Lille leader who saw his Boavista club be relegated to Portuguese D2 this season is sure in any case that the financial aspect will be settled for Bordeaux with its continuation plan. Besides, his certainty even exceeds 100%: “to 1,000 %. Because even if they remain important, the figures are so much smaller than what I have been able to finance in the past … and the increase in reimbursements (from debt) to 40 % will be done by the results, so the climbs in National, in Ligue 2, Ligue 1. For once, everyone will be aligned, everyone will have an interest in it.»An optimistic discourse which will nevertheless have to confront the only reality which is important: that of the field …
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