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Bordeaux: Gérard Lopez sells the Girondins to English fund Park Bench for one symbolic euro
Relegated to the sixth tier, Girondins de Bordeaux have a buyer: the English investment fund Park Bench takes the club over from Gérard Lopez for one symbolic euro, debts included. The regional league and a commercial court still have to approve the takeover.
Gérard Lopez leaves Girondins de Bordeaux for one euro. The sale agreement was signed on Wednesday 30 September between the owner’s company and Park Bench, an English investment fund. “This transaction is concluded for a symbolic one euro with the debts taken over,” the club wrote in its statement.
One euro, the debts on top
The price tells the story: Park Bench pays almost nothing and takes over the club’s liabilities. The first aim of the sale is to keep Bordeaux out of judicial liquidation. To measure the fall: administratively relegated to National 2 at the end of the 2023-24 season, then excluded from national competitions in August, the Girondins now play in Régional 1, the sixth tier.
A commission, then a court
The agreement still has two steps to clear. “As part of the legal takeover procedure, the buyers will be heard in the coming days by the regional management control commission of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Football League,” the club added. That body must approve the change of shareholder and the budget for the 2026-27 season. A commercial court must then sign off the new continuation plan.
Park Bench remains the unknown in the deal. RMC Sport and franceinfo describe it as a British investment fund, without naming its executives or any other holding. The amount of debt taken over and the investment commitments are not public, and no date has been set for the hearings. Gérard Lopez’s exit is settled. The club’s survival now rests with the authorities.