The case dates back to the 2015-2016 season. The administrative court recognized the damage suffered by the Reims stadium during its descent into Ligue 2 at the end of the 2015-2016 season. The French Football Federation (FFF) is ordered to pay 4.78 million euros to the Reims club.
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Perhaps you forgot this episode of the 2015-2016 season. The leaders of the stadium of Reims, them, had not forgotten and had always crossed the throat. Even if appeals are to be expected, the judgment which was rendered this Friday, January 15, 2021 can only delight them.
The administrative court of Châlons-en-Champagne condemns the French Football Federation (FFF) to pay 4.78 million euros to the Stade de Reims in compensation for the damage suffered as a result of his descent into Ligue 2 at the end of the 2015-2016 season.
A judgment rendered today
“The Stade de Reims argued that SC Bastia, better classified than him at the end of the season, should have been demoted due to their extremely fragile financial situation, which would have allowed the Reims club to be drafted and kept in league 1 “, recalls the Reims stadium club in a press release.
By a judgment of January 15, 2021, the court upheld this argument and ordered the FFF to compensate the damage suffered by the club as a result of its descent into league 2.
It first notes that the FFF has created within it, in accordance with Article L. 132-2 of the Sports Code, a national management control department (DNCG) responsible for ensuring the legal and financial control of clubs. professionals and having, as such, investigative powers.
A fault of the financial policeman of French football
The DNCG had, because of the financial situation of SC Bastia, pronounced against it, at the beginning of 2016, a downgrading measure at the end of the season as a precaution. She returned to this measure in the offseason and confined herself to imposing on the club a simple recruitment measure controlled within the limit of 100% of its payroll.
To justify this decision, the FFF relies on the financial and accounting documents produced by SC Bastia in the off-season. However, the court considers that these supporting documents revealed a compromised financial situation which moreover led, over the following months, to the collapse of the club, which at the end of the 2016-2017 season was placed in compulsory liquidation and relegated to National 3. In addition, the judgment notes that the DNCG did not implement its investigative powers even though the sincerity of the financial information produced by SC Bastia was questionable.
In view of all these circumstances, the court considers that by reverting to the demotion measure it had pronounced as a precaution against SC Bastia to replace it with a simple controlled recruitment measure, the DNCG has taken a step clearly inappropriate for the club’s situation.
This fault is likely to engage the responsibility of the FFF with regard to the Stade de Reims which, because of its descent into League 2, suffered a loss assessed by the court at the sum of 4.78 million euros. corresponding to losses of audiovisual rights, ticket and hospitality revenue and sponsorship contract revenue. On the other hand, others
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