FC Sochaux-Montbéliard (FCSM) has filed an interim appeal before the Administrative Court (TA) of Paris against its exclusion from Ligue 2, confirmed this week by the national sports authorities, announced Thursday the lawyer of the buyer Romain Peugeot. “The appeal to the TA was filed last night. We are awaiting its decision in the next few hours or the next few days,” Laurent Cotret, lawyer for Romain Peugeot, who has raised funds to take over the football club, told AFP. , abandoned by its Chinese shareholder.
“Why are we trying to destroy the club?”
The Sochaux club, 9th in L2 at the end of the last exercise, pleads against its demotion to National by the national management control department (DNCG), an offshoot of the French Football Federation (FFF). This setback should benefit Annecy, 17th and relegated, which should be drafted into the second division, the first day of which begins on Saturday. On Tuesday, the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) was not convinced by the takeover project led by Romain Peugeot, great-grandson of the founder, following the withdrawal of the Chinese shareholder, the real estate group Nenking. The nearly century-old club finds itself forced into bankruptcy.
Seized on Thursday morning, the executive committee of the FFF did not want to comment on the club’s appeal pending the decision of the TA. If the TA does not reconsider the relegation of Sochaux to National, the FFF will not rule, it was indicated by federal sources. She will only decide if the TA goes in the direction of the Sochaux club. Me Cotret assured that his client had the necessary funds, namely 8.5 million euros, to ensure the sustainability of the FCSM. “I have proof that the budget is complete. I have the funds in my lawyer’s account, with an irrevocable instruction to pay them if they stay in Ligue 2,” he said.
On Wednesday, Romain Peugeot deplored the attitude of the sports authorities. “We raised the funds and put together a reinforced concrete file. And the FCSM has maintained itself sportingly: why are we trying to destroy the club?” he launched. Founded in 1928 in the birthplace of car manufacturer Peugeot, the Sochaux club was a model of stability for almost 90 years when it was owned by the family of the same name. But within a few years, its Chinese owners pushed it to the brink of bankruptcy.