Angers will not be added to the – already long – list of French football clubs under foreign flags, in particular American investment funds. Not yet, in any case. Saïd Chabane, the president of Angers Sporting Club de l’Ouest (SCO), which plays in Ligue 1, the national football elite, announced on Friday August 5 that he had given up his plan to sell to the company GFC (Global Football Corporation), considering that this fund did not have the means to give him “new impetus”.
“A fund that was in the consortium that was to take over the club withdrew for governance issues. What was planned at the start cannot be done today”said Mr. Chabane.
“I’m not one of the people who say ‘after me, the deluge’. When we announced the opening of capital, it was to find someone who gives new impetus to the club.he added. ” [Si le fonds américain] does not have the means to buy the club, how can he bring it to a level? »
In search of new partners, minority or majority, for several years, Mr. Chabane had announced, in mid-May, that discussions were underway with a potential buyer. Representatives of the GFC fund had come in June for an audit, but the discussions dragged on.
This fund, which aims to buy several European clubs to create a new network for training and developing young players, had already failed, in 2021, to buy the Dutch second division club Breda.
From now on, discussions will only continue with one of the partners of the group, the communication company Playfly, with a view to a minority stake in the commercial part, according to Mr. Chabane.
The Angevin president, CEO of the Cosnelle group (charcuterie and cured meats), which entered the capital of the club in 2011, clarified that he no longer intended to hand over before the summer of 2023.