English firm Park Bench set to acquire fallen Bordeaux for just 86p to halt liquidation

Girondins de Bordeaux are set to be acquired by English investment firm Park Bench for just €1 — approximately 86p — in a deal that would save the former Champions League club from liquidation, according to French newspaper Sud-Ouest.

Current owner Gerard Lopez is prepared to sell for the nominal sum as part of an arrangement that would also see the club’s debt restructured. Under the proposed terms, Bordeaux’s obligations would be reduced from €26 million (£22m) to €13 million (£11m), with repayments extended over 12 years rather than the existing 10. The takeover was formally announced at the Tribunal de Commerce.

The deal marks a potential turning point for a club that has endured a dramatic fall from grace. Bordeaux were competing in Ligue 1 against Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco and Lyon as recently as five years ago, and reached the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals during the 2009/10 season. They now play in Regional 1, the sixth tier of French football, after a series of financial crises derailed the club’s ambitions.

The takeover saga has been lengthy. Fenway Sports Group, the ownership group behind Liverpool, pulled out of a deal for Bordeaux two years ago, leaving the club’s future in prolonged uncertainty through several failed bids.

Among the more striking illustrations of Bordeaux’s financial state is the experience of former England striker Andy Carroll, who joined the club in 2024 and spent the 2024/25 season there. Carroll revealed that his monthly salary did not cover his rent in the city.

“I won’t tell you the exact figure but to give you an idea, since I moved here, I rent a pretty little house and my salary is less than my rent,” Carroll said. “If I joined Bordeaux, it clearly wasn’t for the money. I had offers from elsewhere to play in Saudi Arabia, but that didn’t interest me.”

According to L’Equipe, Carroll earned just €1,614 (£1,372) gross per month — below France’s minimum wage of €1,801.80 for a standard 35-hour working week, a threshold that technically classified him as a part-time employee.

Bordeaux’s history includes some of French football’s most celebrated names. Zinedine Zidane, Christophe Dugarry and Sylvain Wiltord all came through or played for the club, underlining the scale of the institution that Park Bench would be inheriting — along with its considerable debts.