In Bordeaux, where six French league titles still loom large in the club’s memory, FC Girondins de Bordeaux has agreed to change hands for the symbolic sum of €1. The proposed buyer is Park Bench, a British investment fund that would take on part of the historic club’s debt under a rescue plan still awaiting regulatory and court approval.
The agreement was signed with the company controlled by Gérard López, Bordeaux’s owner since 2021. It offers a possible route away from liquidation for a club whose decline has carried it from Ligue 1 to Regional 1, the sixth level of the French pyramid.
The nominal €1 price does not reflect the full cost of the deal. Park Bench’s commitment is tied to the assumption of liabilities and to a restructuring that has sharply reduced the obligations contained in Bordeaux’s continuation plan.
Debt plan reshaped for new investors
Bordeaux’s liabilities in the continuation arrangement are set to fall from roughly €26 million to €13 million. The repayment period would also be extended, moving from 10 years to 12.
López has agreed to relinquish the debts owed to him by the club, including any future claim to recover those sums should Bordeaux’s finances improve. Public claims linked to VAT and France’s social-security system are also subject to reductions in the package.
The debt revisions were central to reviving talks with Park Bench, after the negotiations had appeared to collapse at the beginning of September. Bordeaux have also resolved a separate employment dispute with former coach Vladimir Petkovic, removing what had been regarded as one of the most serious outstanding financial risks.
In its statement, the club said the symbolic sale price came with the transfer of debt obligations and described the signature as an important stage in securing Bordeaux’s future.
Approvals remain before takeover can close
The transaction has not yet been completed. Park Bench will be examined in the coming days by the Regional Financial Control Commission of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Football League, which must assess the investors’ financial standing and the projected budget for the 2026-27 campaign.
Bordeaux’s commercial court must also validate the revised continuation plan. The court had previously imposed a deadline for the owners to present a solution capable of keeping the institution alive, with judicial liquidation a genuine threat.
Only after those reviews can the new ownership project move from agreement to completion.
A historic French club in the sixth tier
The scale of Bordeaux’s fall has been striking. When López took control in 2021, the team was still competing in France’s top flight. Sporting setbacks and mounting financial problems then brought successive relegations, while the club lost its professional status.
This year, financial non-compliance decisions by the DNCG and the French Football Federation sent Bordeaux down to Regional 1. The former Ligue 1 regular is therefore preparing for life at a level far removed from the national stage it once occupied.
Founded in 1881, Bordeaux have won the French championship six times, lifted four Coupe de France trophies and claimed three Coupe de la Ligue titles. Their international profile was also shaped by players such as Zinedine Zidane, who played for the club from 1992 to 1996 before joining Juventus.
The Park Bench agreement does not immediately restore that lost standing. It does, however, offer Bordeaux a chance to keep its doors open while a new financial framework is tested by the courts and football’s regional watchdogs.
