Girondins de Bordeaux confirm sale for one symbolic euro

Girondins de Bordeaux have reached an agreement to change ownership, giving the financially troubled club a possible path forward. Gérard Lopez’s company has signed the deal with Park Bench, an American investment firm designated to take over the club. The agreement still forms part of a legal takeover process and does not yet settle Bordeaux’s sporting future.

The purchase price is one symbolic euro, with Park Bench also assuming the club’s debts. Those obligations are estimated at about 13 million euros, making the overall commitment far greater than the headline sale price. The arrangement reflects Bordeaux’s position near judicial liquidation and the scale of the financial challenge awaiting the new owners.

Park Bench’s representatives are due to appear in the coming days before the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Football League’s regional financial-control commission. That review must validate the takeover project before the club’s next sporting destination is established. Bordeaux could be placed in a Regional 1 group, which is the sixth level of French football, under the proposed restart.