Gérard Lopez, current president of the Bordeaux and Boavista football clubs-both facing serious financial troubles-was sentenced Wednesday by the Lille criminal court to ten months in prison, suspended, along with a €45,000 fine.

The French sports daily L'Équipe, reported the sentencing of Lopez, the former owner of the Lille football club (LOSC). The Spanish-Luxembourgish businessman has ten days to appeal the verdict.

Lopez was convicted of “complicity in the illegal practice of the profession of sports agent without a valid licence” and “failure to declare the hiring of a collaborator,” according to L'Équipe.

As president of LOSC between 2017 and 2020, Lopez had failed to properly establish a contract for Karim Saada, who joined LOSC in October 2017 but was only formally registered six months later in March 2018.

Saada was also sentenced to ten months in prison, suspended, and fined €5,000 by the Lille court for “illegal practice of the profession of sports agent without a valid licence.” The €34,000 he earned for this work was confiscated, and he is now barred from working as a sports agent.

Troubles in Bordeaux and Porto

Lopez’s presence is increasingly unwelcome at his Bordeaux club, a former powerhouse in French Ligue 1 with seven championships, now relegated to N2 (4th division) and facing €118 million in debt.

The club, currently in receivership, has forfeited its professional status and dissolved its training academy, with supporters calling for Lopez's departure.

Similar issues have arisen in Porto, Portugal, where Boavista—acquired by Lopez in 2020 and now ranked 14th in La Liga—has declared a severe financial crisis, which it announced in a press release on Tuesday.