The Roca Team’s appeal before the French Basketball Federation’s Chambre d’Appel was rejected on Saturday, August 1, confirming the club’s exclusion from professional competition after former NBA All-Star Jamal Mashburn failed to deliver the funds he had pledged as part of a proposed takeover.
According to an official statement from the Federation, the club was unable to produce the required documents within the allotted deadline, prompting the appeals chamber to uphold the original decision made by French basketball’s financial regulator and formally deny Monaco’s participation in both the Élite 1 and Élite 2 divisions for the coming season.
The rejection marks a dramatic reversal from the mood just a day earlier. As recently as Friday afternoon, LNB president Philippe Ausseur had reportedly expressed optimism that Monaco’s situation was heading toward a positive resolution, with reports suggesting the DNCCG was satisfied the necessary bank guarantees behind the Mashburn plan had been secured. According to figures reported elsewhere, Mashburn’s proposed investment stood at around €12.5 million, underpinned by a bank guarantee of approximately €7 million, funding that ultimately failed to materialise in time.
Speaking to Monaco-Matin, sources close to the situation confirmed that the club has not yet issued a public statement, but is expected to pursue an appeal before the CNOSF, France’s National Olympic Committee dispute resolution body, widely seen as Monaco’s last realistic avenue to save its position. Any such appeal would require the club to identify a credible, financially solid investor within a very tight timeframe.
The setback lands hard on both the club and its supporters, with the storied institution now facing its most serious threat in years. The financial collapse of longtime benefactor Alexei Fedorischev remains, for now, unresolved, and it was only emergency funding from the Monegasque government, channelled through the Société Nationale de Financement, that allowed the club to complete last season at all. With the club’s professional future now hanging in the balance, the coming days are expected to prove decisive for its survival.