The Roca Team’s fate has taken a decisive turn for the worse, after France’s National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) officially rejected the club’s appeal on Friday, September 18, extinguishing what had been considered its last realistic hope of competing in Nationale 1 next season.
The ruling carries serious consequences for the reigning French champions, who now face the very real prospect of losing their professional status entirely and potentially heading toward liquidation.
Friday’s decision closes out an appeal process the club had pinned its hopes on since its Nationale 1 application was rejected by the FFBB’s Federal Bureau on September 12. At the time, Monaco’s lawyer, Xavier Le Cerf-Galle, had called that earlier ruling extremely severe, arguing the club had been penalised for missing a certified accounts deadline by mere minutes, after its accounting firm, only just reopened following its usual August closure, delivered the necessary figures at 12:18pm, just after the midday cutoff. He confirmed at the time that Monaco intended to appeal to the CNOSF once the missing paperwork was in hand, a route that has now been exhausted.
In response to Friday’s rejection, Monaco has turned to Jean-Pierre Hunckler, President of the French Basketball Federation, sending a letter asking him to make a final, definitive ruling on the Roca Team’s fate.
The decision marks the latest chapter in a saga that has run through much of the summer, following Monaco’s earlier exclusion from both Betclic Élite and Élite 2, its removal from the EuroCup, and now the collapse of its Nationale 1 appeal, leaving the club’s professional future hanging by a single remaining thread.