How Boavista Became The Latest Club To Sink Into Crisis Under Gérard López

Boavista fans would person thought things could not perchance get worse. In early July, a period distant from celebrating their 123rd anniversary, nan erstwhile champions of Portugal, faced pinch liquidation, announced that nan “special revitalisation plan” they had put together past November had been rejected by nan Portuguese Football Federation: they had grounded to supply nan basal taxation and societal information certificates and guarantees successful time.

Riddled pinch indebtedness (they owed €7m to nan building institution entrusted pinch nan improvement of their stadium), they were truthful short of money that energy had been trim disconnected astatine their Estádio de Bessa successful April aft they grounded to salary their bill. Players waited months to person their salary. One of them, nan US defender Reggie Cannon, whose salary was precocious connected 28 of nan 29 months he spent astatine Boavista, terminated his statement successful nan summertime of 2023 and joined Queens Park Rangers. After an entreaty astatine nan tribunal of arbitration for sport, it was announced past period that Boavista will person to compensate him to nan tune of €400,000.

Even erstwhile Porto’s 2nd nine vanished bottommost of nan Primeira Liga past season, supporters clung to nan dream that nan nine would beryllium allowed to regroup successful nan 2nd division, but Boavista did not moreover effort to entreaty against nan federation’s decision. They knew their title was run. They mislaid their master status, were demoted to nan 5th tier and are owed to play successful nan location Porto Football Association’s First Division adjacent season.

But Boavista hadn’t rather reached nan bottommost yet. Five days later, connected 15 July, Porto constabulary officers utilized a battering ram to break into nan club’s office to prehend documents, difficult drives and computers. The suspicion was that astatine slightest six of nan club’s executives, nary of whom has been named, had engaged successful taxation fraud, in installments fraud and money laundering. Boavista’s mostly owner, nan Spanish-Luxembourgian businessman Gérard López, is not 1 of nan six defendants singled retired by Portuguese constabulary and nary criminal charges person been pressed against him. Lawyers for López said he and nan different existent committee members were nan “alleged injured party”.

The executives singled retired by constabulary were thought to person embezzled an estimated €10m pinch nan complicity of accountants, lawyers and auditors. The erstwhile nine of Nuno Gomes, Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink and Raúl Meireles whitethorn not only look relegation and bankruptcy but extinction.

There is simply a consciousness of deja vu astir nan catastrophe. It is not nan first clip that López, an early investor successful Skype and nan erstwhile proprietor of nan Formula One squad Lotus (whom he sold for a symbolical euro to Renault successful 2015 aft they faced bankruptcy), finds his sanction associated pinch a club’s demise, but nan third.

Gérard López during his clip astatine nan Ligue 1 nine Lille. Photograph: François Lo Presti/AFP/Getty Images

His first foray into shot ownership, successful 2017, was pinch Lille, who vanished 2nd and 4th successful Ligue 1 earlier ownership was transferred to nan finance money Elliott successful nan autumn of 2020. López had borrowed €225m from Elliott done a institution based successful nan British Virgin Islands. Elliott, a US company, fundamentally took power of Lille erstwhile López recovered himself incapable of repaying nan loan.

This did not put an extremity to López’s ambitions successful football. He group retired to build his ain multiclub shot empire, targeting clubs who had fallen connected very difficult times. Lille’s partner nine Royal Exclesior Mouscron were successful Belgium’s apical tier erstwhile López bought them successful nan summertime of 2020, erstwhile it was known that his clip astatine LOSC was coming to an end. It was a caller opening for Les Hurlus: in this case, the opening of an extremity which came very quickly. Mouscron were relegated successful López’s first season. By December 2021, nan club’s business had go truthful dire that nan players – who had not received their salaries connected clip – went connected strike. By March 2022, Mouscron had been declared bankrupt by their ain board. By nan commencement of nan 2022-23 season, Mouscron were nary more. There is nary typical nine near successful nan Walloon municipality wherever nan Moody Blues wrote Nights In White Satin and whose section shot segment is mentioned successful a later song, Top Rank Suite.

The adjacent summation to López’s portfolio, successful October 2020, were Boavista, who had been deed by a transportation prohibition because of their financial difficulties. More bans followed nether nan caller ownership. Eight months later, it was Girondins de Bordeaux, 1 of France’s historically astir successful clubs, wherever Zinédine Zidane made his sanction successful nan early 1990s, whom López acquired from nan finance guidance patient King Street Capital for an undisclosed sum successful July 2021. The Girondins were relegated to Ligue 2 nan pursuing season.

A man sits connected a chair successful beforehand of a banner reference ‘López get out’ successful Bordeaux successful May. Photograph: Christophe Archambault/AFP/Getty Images

By 2024 Bordeaux, contempt nan waste of cardinal players and of their women’s team, faced ineligible action from 400 unpaid creditors and were looking astatine their demotion to nan 3rd tier by nan French regulator DNCG. It turned retired to beryllium worse than that. López unsuccessfully tried to bring successful caller investors, including Liverpool’s mostly owner, Fenway Sports Group. The nine were put connected sale, but nary purchaser declared immoderate interest. At is stands, López remains nan proprietor of Girondins, who will play successful National 2, France’s amateur 4th tier, successful nan 2025-26 season.

Talking to L’Équipe, nan DNCG president, Jean-Marc Mickeler, was scathing successful his appraisal of what had happened successful Bordeaux. He said nan problems could person been avoided if nan nine had not had “too overmuch debt, not capable equity, [and] over-optimistic projections based connected qualification for nan Champions League and regular subordinate sales. We had warned astir this from nan beginning.”

Every time, beryllium it successful Belgium, Portugal aliases France, López had presented himself arsenic nan saviour who would move information nan fortunes of nan clubs he acquired; each time, he grounded and now he finds himself nan ruler of an empire of dust.