FC Sochaux, one of the founders of French professional football, is threatened with disappearance after the confirmation on appeal of its administrative relegation to National, Tuesday July 11, which risks being extended into bankruptcy.
Several Franche-Comté media announce that the club is threatened with disappearance, for lack of a buyer, due to a hole of 21 million euros. The current owner, the Nenking group, could not make up the forecast deficit for the coming season. After finishing 9th in the last Ligue 2 season, the club had been administratively relegated to National, and could plummet to N3 and lose its pro status.
Fourth club in the number of matches played in the top flight in France
Despite the sale of many players for ten million euros, such as midfielder Skelly Alvero who left for Lyon for 4 million euros or left-back Yoël Armougom in Clermont, the Chinese conglomerate, specializing in real estate , did not pay the missing money. During the past season, Sochaux has long struggled for the rise in Ligue 1. The Doubs club was still third in L2 on the evening of the 30th day, but ended its season with eight defeats in a row to collapse in the 9th. rank, 17 points from the podium and 20 from second place, synonymous with a climb. Sochaux is one of the founders of the first professional French Championship, in 1932-1933. The FCSM is fourth in the number of matches played in the elite in France with 2,368 games, behind Marseille (2,578), Saint-Étienne (2,532) and the Girondins de Bordeaux (2,544).
Twice French champion (1935, 1938), winner of the Coupe de France in 1937 and 2007 and of the Coupe de la Ligue in 2004, FC Sochaux also played in the UEFA Cup semi-final in 1981, where the Bernard Genghini-Yannick Stopyra generation had been beaten (1-1/3-2) by AZ Alkmaar (at the time AZ67). The relegation of Sochaux should allow Annecy, first relegated from L2, to be maintained.
With AFP