A large traditions club loses its profile permission after 87 years
Girondins Bordeaux Face Challenging Times. Former Football Superstar Zinedine Zidane and Ex-World Champion Didier Deschamps Lose Elite Status. Goal is Quick Return to Professional Football.
After 87 years, France's former football champion Girondins Bordeaux have relinquished their elite status. The former club of football idol and ex-World Champion Zinedine Zidane announced this decisive step late on Thursday evening. Forty-eight hours prior, the South French team, who were excluded from Ligue 1 in 2021 due to financial problems, were sentenced to relegation to the third-tier National League for the second time in three years due to their overspending.
Girondins are among the most renowned and successful clubs in France. Besides six league titles between 1950 and 2009, Bordeaux won the cup four times and reached the final of the then UEFA Cup in 1996 (0:2 and 1:3 against Bayern Munich). Not only Zidane, but also current French national team coach and ex-World Champion Didier Deschamps wore the Girondins jersey. Moreover, German national players Klaus Allofs, Dieter Muller, and Manfred Kaltz earned their living in Bordeaux during their professional careers. German coach Gernot Rohr also spent part of his career there.
Club owner Gerard Lopez had invested approximately 60 million Euros in the club over the past three years. However, the entrepreneur refused further financial injections. In mid-June, after a financial audit by the DNCG, which is responsible for monitoring the financial prudence of all French clubs, significant financial problems were discovered, and relegation was ordered.
The club intends to make the financial situation of the team transparent to French football institutions in the coming days and weeks. The goal is a quick return to professional football. Bordeaux has been in serious turbulence since the relegation in 2021/22. Few notable professionals remained in the squad during the previous season.
Soccer enthusiasts might be dissappointed to hear that Girondins Bordeaux, a historic soccer club known for producing stars like Zinedine Zidane and Didier Deschamps, has been relegated to the third-tier National League due to overspending. Investors, such as club owner Gerard Lopez, have played a crucial role in French soccer, but Lopez rejected further financial injections for Girondins, leading to their financial difficulties.
