The National Directorate of Control and Management, better known by the acronym DNCG, is an essential institution in the French football landscape. Often feared by clubs, it acts in the shadows to guarantee the fairness and financial sustainability of competitions. But who is she really, and why does she play such a crucial role? Decryption.
The financial policeman of French football who sifts through club finances
This financial policeman of French football, created in 1984, acts as insurance to avoid the economic excesses of French clubs. If its action is sometimes contested, it remains essential for the stability and sustainability of French football. Behind the scenes, the DNCG scrutinizes with surgical precision the finances of professional clubs, from Ligue 1 to the lower divisions.
Every year, managers must present their financial statements and budget forecasts. Television rights, ticketing, transfers, partnerships: everything is dissected. The objective is simple but ambitious: to guarantee that each club has sufficient resources to cover its expenses. A complex task, as the economic realities differ from one formation to another, between the rich PSG and the more modest structures of Ligue 2, for example.
The DNCG also plays its role with agents and candidates for club takeovers
For clubs, the DNCG can be a blessing or a nightmare. When an unbalanced budget is detected, it does not hesitate to impose sanctions. The measures vary depending on the seriousness of the situation: ban on recruitment, capping of the payroll, or even administrative demotion. Decisions often have serious consequences, as evidenced by the recent sporting relegations of FC Sochaux in National, or more recently of Girondins de Bordeaux, in National 2.
The DNCG does not just punish: it also supports the clubs. By alerting people to budgetary excesses, it allows managers to adjust their strategy. However, the DNCG does not escape criticism. Some consider its rules too strict, curbing the ambition of clubs wishing to invest massively. Others, on the contrary, point to laxity towards the big teams, accused of benefiting from preferential treatment.
Other than examining the accounts of professional teams at each pivotal period (end of calendar year and end of sports season), the National Directorate of Control and Management also has a role to play in controlling the profession of agents. football and it is a mandatory step, before any process of selling a club to a new majority shareholder. She thus looked into the takeover of SM Caen by a fund supported by Kylian Mbappé and has just received the delegation of future buyers of Paris FC, structured around the Arnault family.
Despite the controversies, the DNCG remains a model of regulation envied abroad. While several European leagues are plagued by colossal debts, French football displays relative stability. In an increasingly tense economic context, marked by the explosion of salaries and uncertainties linked to TV rights, its role is more crucial than ever.
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