Bordeaux, six-time French champions and the club where Zinedine Zidane made his name, will play in the sixth tier of French football this season after the Nouvelle-Aquitaine regional league confirmed the penalty for failing to produce about 10 million euros in required funds and to meet debt payments. The club was sold last month for a symbolic one euro to US-based investment group Park Bench, which took on the remaining debt, and a court is due on October 20 to ratify a 12-year recovery plan that halves the debt to 13 million euros. The fall is the latest in a slide that began with relegation from Ligue 1 in 2022 and loss of professional status in 2024, leaving a largely amateur team in Regional 1 (the top amateur regional division).