The Niortais Chamois placed in forced liquidation

The land of football, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region is not having a great summer. After Girondins de Bordeaux was declared bankrupt at the end of July, the commercial court of Niort on Tuesday 10 September declared the liquidation of the Chamois Niortais public limited company (SA), with a debt of just over 3 million euros, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has learned from the Chamois Niortais FC association.

“The commercial court could not say anything more”declared Guy Fleurquin, president of the association. The court found that “the recovery [était] clearly impossible”in the absence of a takeover project following the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings by the club’s former owners.

Regular residents of Ligue 2, the Niortais even played one season in the elite in 1987-1988, their only one to date. Last season, the Deux-Sévrian club finished third in the National (French third division), one point away from promotion to Ligue 2, but were administratively relegated to National 2 (fourth division) at the beginning of the summer.

Chamois Niortais, which would celebrate its centenary in 2025, appealed against this decision without success and was immediately excluded from all national championships by the National Federal Directorate of Management Control (DNCG).

The Niortais “hope” to return to the sixth division

In the coming days, a legal representative will be appointed to assess the debts and attempt to settle part of them.

It is now up to the executive committee of the French Football Federation (FFF), which will meet on Thursday, to decide which division the Niortais will participate in this season. “We hope that the committee will become aware of the situation and make us return to R1 [sixième division]. Never before have three sanctions been imposed on the same club in the same year.”said Guy Fleurquin, angry at the former owners of the professional structure.

While the R1 championship started three days ago, Niort only has fourteen players (including two goalkeepers), with no possibility of recruitment at the moment due to non-payment of transfers. Indeed, Chamois owes 100,000 euros to the Belgian club Brugge as part of the transfer of Amadou Sagna in July 2023.

The association has no intention of neglecting its young players and hopes to field a team in the national under-17 championship this season.

While waiting for better days for Bordeaux and Niort, the discreet football club from Pau, resident in Ligue 2 since the summer of 2020, is now the last professional representative of the New Aquitaine region.