Bordeaux to give up professional status as financial woes spiral

The chaos continues at Bordeaux. While the club still does not know which division it will play in when it resumes in less than a month's time, Girondins are set to give up the professional status they acquired in 1937, Sud Ouest has reported.

In the search for ways to limit expenditure, players' contracts would be broken in order to reduce the wage bill. And even though the wage bill was set at 36 million euros (£30m) last season, the club would have had a net loss of 40 million euros (£34m) by the end of June.

Bordeaux's training centre is also set to close.

Bordeaux would thus be ahead of the game in the event of demotion to National 1 and would avoid negotiating early releases directly with players.

This Tuesday, the club will ask the commercial court to open receivership proceedings to freeze all its debts totalling 90 million euros (£76m). If approved, the club will have to submit a budget plan for next season to the federal DNCG. Conversely, if the club fails to provide guarantees, it will have to submit a new plan or will be wound up.