With the club on the brink after their administrative relegation to the third tier, Sochaux have been handed a lifeline from a familiar name.
According to France Bleu, the grandson of the club’s founder, Romain Peugeot, has reached an agreement with the current owners, Chinese conglomerate Nenking, to take the club back into the hands of the Peugeot family.
After long negotiations involving Peugeot and Sochaux president Frankie Yau on Monday, a letter of intention was signed between the parties involved. Peugeot, along with local investors, will put €8m on the table, with Nenking adding €4m to reach the €12m sum that the club needed in order to attempt an appeal to keep their place in Ligue 2.
The move is expected to save Sochaux from bankruptcy, with Peugeot becoming majority shareholder (67%) and Nenking keeping a stake of one third. The latter still intend to sell the club, and are expected to be reimbursed further down the line.
The club will now be hoping for their appeal with the French Olympic Committee to be accepted – for that to happen, the €12m needs to be in the club’s accounts as soon as possible. In any case, the club will return to the Peugeot family, eight years after the car manufacturer sold it. The team was founded in 1928 by Jean-Pierre Peugeot, specifically for the company workers.
GFFN | Raphaël Jucobin
