The DNCG decisions of June 27 led to the regulation of the payroll of Le Havre, which recalls being in difficulty because of the CVC-LFP agreement. In addition, Ajaccio and Rouen were demoted.
“An announcement without surprise”. In a scathing press release, Le Havre AC deplored the regulation of its payroll pronounced on Thursday, June 27 by the National Directorate of Management Control (DNCG), the financial policeman of French football. The club considers that this is a “logical consequence of the double punishment inflicted on HAC”.
At issue: the agreement on the distribution between Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs of the billion and a half euros generated by the 2022 agreement between the CVC investment fund and the Professional Football League (LFP). The club considers itself cheated, saying that it would have received more money if it had not obtained promotion to Ligue 1 in the summer of 2023.
“No one is unaware that HAC is the only Ligue 1 club not to have benefited from the funds negotiated as part of the agreement with CVC, the aim of which was in particular to consolidate and strengthen the clubs’ equity. The majority shareholder therefore had to replace this scandalous imbalance,” the club denounces.
The “bad soap opera” surrounding the League’s inability to find a broadcaster for Ligue 1 is also highlighted in the press release: “It is the whole of French football which is weakened, these revenues representing for French clubs in in general and for the HAC in particular their main source of revenue.
Ajaccio and Rouen demoted
In the rest of the decisions taken on June 27 by the DNCG, Olympique Lyonnais, Rodez AF and SM Caen obtained a green light. This is not the case for AC Ajaccio, which is sanctioned with a demotion to National 1. The Corsican club, which finished 15th in Ligue 2, has already announced that it has lodged an appeal “to provide the required documents and provide complete satisfaction to the DNCG in the coming days.
“Mr. Fattaccioli, the club’s vice-president in charge of finances, has made a commitment to the DNCG to provide the requested elements within the allotted time. The directors remain confident that the club will pass the appeal and be reinstated in the Ligue 2 championship,” assures the ACA in its press release.
Finally, FC Rouen, 7th in National 1, was also sanctioned with a relegation to the lower level. “Bankruptcy is inevitable” and this “will mark the beginning of a descent into hell well beyond the National 2 championship”, assured Iwan Postel, representative of the Turkish buyer Tarkan Ser who committed to buying the club in early June, as reported by France Bleu. For the time being, the club’s management has decided not to contest the decision.
