Jean-Marc Mickeler, the boss of the National Directorate of Control and Management (DNCG), the financial policeman of French football, took stock of the winter transfer window in an interview given to L'Équipe.
He took the opportunity to explain that the control carried out by his institution prevented the filing for bankruptcy of many French clubs.
“In absolute value, this is the best winter transfer window that the L1 has recorded for a long time: 100 M€ in sales and 69 M€ in capital gain, he estimates.
The raw figures are quite satisfactory and better than the DNCG imagined.
On the other hand, almost all of this capital gain is realized on four transactions
(Guimaraes, Faivre, Ikoné and Brahimi, two in France and two abroad)
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This could illustrate a trend that many players are anticipating for the next transfer window: the resumption of a more active market for big players, as well as for additional footballers for very low transfer fees.
For the strong man of the DNCG, the accounts remain in the red But this color is slightly less dark than expected.
“We will probably land, at the end of the season, in the low range of the estimates we made at the start of the season, around €600 million in net losses for L1 and L2.
Given the recapitalizations that have already been made by a number of clubs, such a level of losses would require a new refinancing effort of around €500 million by the start of the 2022-2023 season. , one third in the form of equity contribution so that they become positive again, and two thirds in the form of cash contribution to ensure the smooth running of the coming season.
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“Everything that has been done has avoided total bankruptcy”
But for Jean-Marc Mickeler, the risk of one or more clubs filing for bankruptcy by the end of the season has been ruled out.
“We supported them in securing their budget.
We ensured compliance with all the commitments made by the shareholders.
We have rather good surprises thanks to this transfer window.
From my point of view, there is no risk”
On the other hand, for next season, this risk is not ruled out.
“We naturally follow a few clubs more closely,” he admits.
For them, we are wondering about next season.
There will be real issues during our discussions with shareholders.
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But if the fever has dropped slightly, French football remains very sick.
“We are still on an operating deficit of around 1.2 billion euros for the current season.
It is considerable.
Everything that has been done has avoided total bankruptcy.
Without it, there would be no more professional football in France.
There would have been massive bankruptcy filings.
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