The Havre Athletic Club (HAC) is doing badly financially. Faced with a tense economic situation, the oldest French club has scored an important point in its battle against the Professional Football League (LFP) as revealed by L'Equipe.
For several seasons, the HAC has been operating with limited finances. Already under the constraint of a control of its payroll imposed by the DNCG last June, the Norman club had to be cautious on the transfer market this summer, recruiting only free players or in the form of loans. Despite these efforts, the club has a deficit of slightly more than 10 million euros, aggravated by two factors: the drop in TV rights, which affected all Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs and a dispute with the LFP over distribution. of CVC funds, which left HAC with a much lower share than other clubs.
In response, the DNCG maintained the control of the payroll and prohibited the club from recruiting for a fee. Measures that the HAC management hopes to lift this winter thanks to sales during the transfer window and a possible contribution of equity funds.
Le Havre brings the LFP to its knees!
It is in this context that the HAC obtained a major legal victory. The Paris judicial court authorized a precautionary seizure of 7.5 million euros on the accounts of LFP Media, at the request of the Norman club. Le Havre believes it was wronged in the distribution of CVC funds, the investment fund having injected 1.5 billion euros into the League's commercial subsidiary. While Ligue 1 clubs received between 33 and 200 million euros, the HAC only received 1.5 million, a paltry sum for a promoted club, especially considering its financial needs.
The Senate, in a report published in October, had already denounced this disparity. He described as “surprising” the difference in treatment between Le Havre and the other clubs, questioning the absence of correction. This precautionary seizure disrupts the plans of the LFP, which planned to distribute the last CVC funds in December. The League could challenge this decision, but it will have to respond to accusations of unfairness.
A decision with important consequences!
The precautionary seizure blocks a distribution which would have seen the HAC receive an additional 500,000 to 700,000 euros, bringing its total to only 2 million euros. The judge considered that the HAC's debt was credible, and that its recovery risked being compromised.
For the HAC, this decision is a breath of fresh air and a lever to rebalance its finances. But it also asks broader questions about governance and fairness in French football. During the LFP general assembly, scheduled for next week, this issue could cause heated debates and encourage other clubs to reconsider the criteria for distributing funds. It remains to be seen how the new owners of ASSE will position themselves in this matter…
