Bordeaux Court Clears Park Bench Takeover as Debt Falls to €14.5m
A Bordeaux court approved Girondins' amended continuation plan, completing Park Bench's €1 takeover and cutting remaining debts to €14.5m, repayable by 2038.
A Bordeaux commercial court on 13 November 2026 approved the amended continuation plan for FC Girondins de Bordeaux, lifting the last condition on Park Bench's takeover from Gérard Lopez. The plan cuts the club's remaining debts to €14.5 million and spreads repayment to 2038, according to Sud Ouest and the club's statement.
Key facts
- The tribunal de commerce de Bordeaux homologated the substantial modification of the club's continuation plan on Friday 13 November 2026, ten days after the 3 November hearing.
- Sud Ouest reported that the amended plan reduces remaining debts from about €26 million to €14.5 million, with repayment extended to 2038.
- The share sale to Park Bench was agreed for a symbolic €1 with the debts taken on, the club said when the deal was signed on 30 September 2026, as reported by Paris Match citing AFP.
- WebGirondins and Foot National report an announced €25 million financial commitment from the new owners for the restructuring and rebuild.
- The club, now in Régional 1, the sixth tier, passed 4,000 season subscriptions this week, according to Le Parisien.
What the court approved
The ruling was the final suspensive condition on the sale. The club said in a statement that the decision "constitutes an important step in the financial restructuring" and lets it keep rebuilding "within a defined framework for the coming years". Le Parisien said the decision definitively ends Lopez's ownership, which began in July 2021, and removes the threat of judicial liquidation.
The new plan replaces the one the court adopted on 24 June 2025. According to Sud Ouest, that earlier plan had already reduced liabilities from €104 million to just under €26 million over ten years, and €4.4 million had been paid since. The amended version was sent to the club's 431 creditors to vote on before the hearing, and was justified by the relegation to Régional 1.
Park Bench is backed by James Bord, Jeremy Green and Evan Sofer, according to Paris Match. The purchasing vehicle is Park Bench Bordeaux LLC, Sud Ouest reported.
How the debt deal is structured
The commercial logic is to push repayment back while the club rebuilds from the sixth tier. Sud Ouest reported that annual repayments are set at 1% of the remaining debt in 2027 and 2028 and 2% in 2029 and 2030, before rising progressively to 15% in 2037 and 18% in 2038. On that schedule, debt service is about €1.08 million this season and about €80,000 next season, the paper said.
Park Bench also bought the claim held by the US fund Fortress, the club's privileged creditor, which was still owed €2.4 million by June 2027. Under the amended plan, that amount falls to €1.65 million and will be repaid to Park Bench only once other creditors are paid in full, in 2038. Sud Ouest added that €10.6 million had been placed in escrow by the buyers, of which €1.202 million was released to meet plan instalments and last season's liabilities, including €800,000 in stadium rent. The remaining €9.4 million is earmarked partly to cover this season's operating deficit, estimated at around €2.5 million.
When the sale was agreed, L'Équipe reported that Lopez would also give up his own claims on the club and his return-to-better-fortune clause, and that the state's VAT and URSSAF claims would be cut by 50%.
Why it matters beyond Bordeaux
Bordeaux, French champions in 2009, fell from Ligue 1 to Régional 1 in five years under Lopez, according to Le Parisien. The DNCG imposed an administrative relegation in summer 2024 alongside judicial restructuring proceedings, and a takeover by Fenway Sports Group came close before collapsing, RMC Sport reported via All Football. That failed approach belongs to a wider pattern of club sales that stall late, tracked in our list of failed football takeovers.
The case also shows how French insolvency courts, rather than a league regulator, end up deciding control of a distressed club. In England, comparable deals wait on a regulator or league test, as with the cases in our takeovers pending approval snapshot and the Gateshead takeover that still needs Independent Football Regulator sign-off.
What happens next
The club has scheduled a press conference for Monday 16 November at 9:00 at its Le Haillan training centre to present the new management team and its plans, Le Parisien reported. The €25 million commitment has been announced but not itemised publicly. With debt payments back-loaded to 2037 and 2038, the plan's credibility will depend on Bordeaux climbing the divisions and growing revenue before the largest instalments fall due.
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