Time is running out as the league has already started and the club does not have a team, or rather the 4 teams required to play in the French fourth division. The budget to assemble them is just €1 million. The only positive news is that if Girondins succeed, they will stay at Matmut Atlantique.

2 relegations in one season

Despite an appeal filed by Girondins on 8 August, the decision was upheld. The historic Ligue 2 club from Bordeaux has been relegated to Group B of the Championnat National 2 (N2), the fourth, amateur level of the competition.

The club believes it has done all it can to stay at National 1 level, and they are now focused on building a project in N2. The aim is a gradual rebuild and a gradual return to the top tier. The sporting project necessarily includes the continuation of matches at Matmut Atlantique where FC Girondins de Bordeaux is still the host, the club announced in a statement.

© Nouveau Stade Bordeaux

€1 million for 4 teams

Girondins' problem, however, is that in order to play in N2 at all, they need to have at least four teams - the first in National 2, the reserves in National 3 and two youth teams. Meanwhile, both the professional teams and the club's youth academy have been disbanded with the club's resignation from professional status.

The club therefore has a significant challenge ahead. The postponement of matches has bought Girondins time until the 3rd round, on 31 August, so the club has 10 days to build four teams on a budget of €1 million. According to Sud-Ouest, only 10 adult players and 13 from the youth teams turned up for training on Friday. And time is pressing.

According to L'Equipe, the club intends to ask for matches to be postponed for one more week, until the 4th round, which starts on 6 September.

© Nouveau Stade Bordeaux

Socios move to help

Faced with the club's dire situation, supporters have decided to throw themselves into helping the club by creating the Girondins socios project. By joining, fans of the club contribute €87. So far, more than €32,000 has been raised, which will be used to financially support the club.

In contrast, Toujours Girondins, another association of Girondins fans, is proposing to transform the club into a Collective Interest Cooperative (SCIC), by which it would cease to be owned by one person - businessman Gérard Lopez - and instead become owned by all socios.

The situation is far from ideal, but the club hopes to rebuild the Girondins brand in the coming years. Before that can happen, however, the club's governing body must assemble four teams. The future of Girondins Bordeaux as well as the Matmut Atlantique stadium is therefore still uncertain, although it is inevitably approaching the decisive moment.