Les Girondins (TheGirondins) le club au Scapulaire (the Scapular club),[1] les Marines et Blanc (the Navy and Whites)[2]
Short name
FCGB
Founded
1 October 1881; 144 years ago (1 October 1881) (As a gymnastics and shooting club) 1920; 105 years ago (1920) (As a professional association football club)
The club took its nameGirondins from the demonym for people from thedepartment ofGironde, and was founded on 1 October 1881 as agymnastics andshootingclub. The club, chaired by André Chavois, later added sports such asrowing,equestrian, andswimming, among others. It was not until 1910 when football was officially introduced to the club following strong urging from several members within the club, most notably club president Raymond Brard, though it was only available on atrial basis. The experiment with football lasted only a year before returning almost a decade later in 1919. The club contested its first official match in 1920 defeating Section Burdigalienne 12–0.[7]
Bordeaux achieved professional status in football on 2 July 1936, partly due to the club's merger with fellowBordelais outfit Girondins Guyenne Sport, which resulted in the club that exists today. Bordeaux's rise to professionalism came about alongside theFrench Football Federation's plea to increase professionalism inFrench football, which prior to 1932, had been non-existent. The club was inserted into thesecond division of French football and made its debut appearance during the 1937–38 season. The club's first manager was SpaniardBenito Díaz. Diaz brought fellow Spanish players Santiago Urtizberea and Jaime Mancisidor to the team with the latter serving ascaptain. The club's most prominentFrenchmen on the team were homegrownattacker Henri Arnaudeau andgoalkeeperAndré Gérard. Bordeaux played its first official match on 23 May 1937 defeatingRhône-Alpes-based FCScionzier 2–1 at theStade de Colombes. The club's first ever league match was contested on 22 August losing away toToulouse 3–2. Bordeaux recorded its first league win againstNîmes. Unfortunately for the club, the team finished 6th in the Southern region of the division. Bordeaux's disappointing finish inserted the club into the relegation playoff portion of the league where the team finished a respectable 3rd. A year later, Bordeaux moved into a new home, theStade Chaban-Delmas, which had previously been known as, simply Parc Lescure. The facility was built specifically for the1938 FIFA World Cup and, following the competition's completion, was designated to Bordeaux. The club had formerly played its home matches at the Stade Galin, which today is used as atraining ground.[7]
Trophy of the centenary tournament of Girondins de Bordeaux
On 15 October 1940, Bordeaux merged with local club AS Port and took on one of the club's most prestigious traditions, thescapular. Bordeaux ASP, which the club was now known, adorned the scapular during its run to the1941 edition of the Coupe de France final. The match, played inoccupied France at the Stade Municipal inSaint-Ouen, saw Bordeaux defeatSC Fives 2–0 with Urtizberea netting both goals. TheCoupe de France triumph was the club's first major honour. Following theliberation of France, Bordeaux returned to league play and earned promotion to thefirst division following its 2nd-place finish during the 1948–49 season. After the season, André Gérard, now manager of the club, signedDutchmanBertus de Harder. Led by the three-headed monster of De Harder,Édouard Kargu, andCamille Libar, Bordeaux captured its first-ever league championship, in just the club's first season in the first division, winning by six points over second placeLille. The league success led to Bordeaux being selected to participate in the second edition of theLatin Cup. In the competition, Bordeaux reached the final drawing 3–3 withPortuguese outfitBenfica. The draw forced a second match with Benfica claiming victory following anextra time goal after over two hours and 25 minutes of play.[7]
Bordeaux maintained its title-winning aspirations finishing runners-up toNice two seasons after winning its first title. The club also performed well in cup competitions reaching the Coupe de France final in1952 and1955. In 1952, Bordeaux suffered defeat to the team it finished runner-up to the same year, Nice, following a thrilling match in which eight goals were scored with five of them coming in the first 40 minutes. Bordeaux drew the match at 3–3 following a 55th-minute goal from Henri Baillot, but Nice countered minutes later with two goals in a span of four minutes to go up 5–3, which was the final result. In 1955, Bordeaux were trounced 5–2 by Lille who went up 4–0 within 35 minutes. The resulting struggles in the cup competitions led to struggles domestically with the club suffering relegation in the 1955–56 season. The club returned to the first division for the 1959–60 season, but failed to make an impact falling back toDivision 2 after finishing last in the standings with 21 points.[7]
Bordeaux returned to its former self in the 1960s under new manager and former playerSalvador Artigas. Under the helm of Artigas, Bordeaux returned to the first division and finished in a respectable fourth place for the 1962–63 season. The following season, Bordeauxreturned to the Coupe de France final where the club faced off againstLyon. Bordeaux, once again, were defeated 2–0 courtesy of two goals from theArgentineNestor Combin. The club's runner-up finish resulted in the team qualifying for the1964–65 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. The appearance was brief with the club losing 4–3 on aggregate to German clubBorussia Dortmund. Four seasons later, Bordeaux again reached the final of the Coupe de France, the club's seventh appearance overall. The team facedSaint-Étienne and, again failed to match the achievement reached in 1941 losing 2–1. The following season, Bordeaux earned another appearance in the final, but again, failed to win the trophy losing 2–0 toMarseille. The team suffered an extreme decline during the 1970s, despite the arrival ofAlain Giresse. The club played under seven different managers during the decade and consistently finished at the bottom half of the table. In 1979, the club was sold to the influential and ambitious real estatemogulClaude Bez, who positioned himself as president of the club. In the summer of 1983, Girondins de Bordeaux organised a centenary tournament; Bordeaux won a 2–0 victory overBarcelona in the semi-finals of this tournament, and in the final, the club was defeated byVfB Stuttgart.[7][8]
Bordeaux's home kit of their victorious 1984–85Division 1 seasonAlain Giresse, influential Bordeaux player in the '70s and '80s and the club's all-time top scorer.
Under the helm ofClaude Bez, who injected millions into the club, Bordeaux flourished winning three league championships, twoCoupe de France titles, and also performed well inEuropean competitions, most notably reaching the European Cup semi-final in1985. During Bez's run presiding over the team, he recruited severalFrench internationals such asBernard Lacombe,Jean Tigana,René Girard,Jean-Christophe Thouvenel, andThierry Tusseau. Bez also brought in established managerAimé Jacquet. Led by 1970s mainstays Giresse andGernot Rohr, Bordeaux captured its first league championship since 1950 in the1983–84 season finishing equal on points withMonaco, however, due to having a better goal difference, Bordeaux were declared champions. Thenext season, Bordeaux again won the league claiming the title by four points over second placeNantes. In Europe, Bordeaux played in the1984–85 European Cup and reached the semi-finals, defeating Spanish clubAthletic Bilbao, Romanian clubDinamo București, and Soviet outfitDnipro Dnipropetrovsk before losing to Italian clubJuventus. In the Coupe de France, Bordeaux finally achieved cup glory defeating Marseille 2–1 in the1986 edition of the final with Tigana and Giresse recording both goals. The Coupe de France trophy was the club's first since 1941 after eight agonising attempts in finals. Thefollowing year the club responded by winning the trophy again; in a re-match with Marseille, Bordeaux won its second consecutive cup courtesy of goals fromPhilippe Fargeon andZlatko Vujović. Bordeaux then capped off the1986–87 Division 1 season by winning its fourth league title and achieving thedouble as well.
Bordeaux ended the decade with a 13th-place finish in their1989 league campaign.
Due to administrative problems, the club was relegated just two years thereafter. In1992, however,Les Girondins won that year's Division 2 title, thus being elevated to the top tier of French football. In the emergence of young and exciting players such as playmakerZinedine Zidane, strikerChristophe Dugarry and left backBixente Lizarazu, the club ascended even higher to win theUEFA Intertoto Cup in1995. With this talented trio, the club defeatedFC Rotor Volgograd (the 1995King's Cup Winner),Real Betis,Milan andSlavia Prague in the second, third, quarter- and semi-finals respectively to reach the1996 UEFA Cup final where they were beaten byBayern Munich 5–1 on aggregate. Bordeaux witnessed further glory only three years later, winning their fifth French league title in the1998–99 season with wingerSylvain Wiltord winning theGolden Boot of that season with 22 goals.[9]
During the 1999–2000 season, the club played in the newUEFA Champions League for the first time. In two seasons time Bordeaux won another piece of silverware, beatingLorient 3–0 in the2002 Coupe de la Ligue final.Le club au scapulaire then two seasons later defeatedClub Brugge 4–1 on aggregate in the fourth round to reach the2004 UEFA Cup quarter-finals, where the club fell toeventual winnersValencia.[9] Bordeaux got to another final in 2007 where there were eventually victorious in winning theCoupe de la Ligue of that year. Bordeaux then achieved further honours in winning the Ligue 1 andCoupe de la Ligue titles of the 2008–09 French footballing season thus achieving the first ever double in the club's history.[10] In 2013, Bordeaux won the Coupe de France defeating Evian 3–2 in the final.[11] In the 2013–14 Ligue 1 season, Bordeaux finished 7th in the table.[12] In 2015, Bordeaux appointedWilly Sagnol but in 2016 Sagnol was terminated after only winning one match in the first eight games of the season and was replaced byUlrich Rame.[13] On 27 May 2016, Rame was replaced byJocelyn Gourvennec.[14] On 20 January 2018, Gourvennec was fired and was replaced byGus Poyet. Poyet guided Bordeaux to a 6th-placed finish at the end of the season.[15]
In July 2018, General American Capital Partners's CEO Joseph DaGrosa pursued the purchase of the French professional football team for €70 million after 19 years ofM6's ownership.[16][17]
On 18 August 2018, Poyet was suspended by Bordeaux after labelling the situation as "embarrassing" whenGaëtan Laborde was sold toMontpellier without his knowledge or consent. On 5 September 2018,Ricardo Gomes was appointed as "General Manager" — he did not possess the necessary coaching badges to be officially appointed the first-team coach.
The purchase of the club by General American Capital Partners would be completed in November 2018, before they sold their stake to majority shareholder King Street Capital in December 2019.[18][19]
On 23 April 2021, the club cited a decreased revenue due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. Also, there was the loss of income ofMediapro, the TV rights holder who went bankrupt after missed payments the year prior. The club was placed inadministration when the American owners, King Street stated they would no longer support the club financially.[20] On 22 June 2021, Girondins de Bordeaux announced thatGérard López acquired the club.[21]
For the first time since the 1990–91 season, Bordeaux finished last in the2021–22 Ligue 1 season and were relegated to theLigue 2. That was when the club were administratively relegated as a consequence of financial difficulties.[22] On 14 June 2022, theDNCG administratively relegated Bordeaux to theChampionnat National due to financial issues. The club confirmed it would appeal the decision, citing it as 'brutal'.[23] On 27 July 2022, Bordeaux won its appeal and was officially reinstated in Ligue 2 for the2022–23 season.[24][25]
At the end of the 2023–24 season, Bordeaux was again administratively relegated to the Championnat National. Although the club had initially appealed the decision, it later withdrew the appeal.[26]
On 25 July 2024, it was announced that the club informed theFrench Football Federation that they would officially give up their status as a professional football club, with current player contracts being terminated and the team's training centre closing indefinitely. In a press release, the club stated that they would still be promoting their youth academies, and hoping they could play in the Championnat National next season and get back to Ligue 1 with "sound finances and a renewed ambition".[27] Then, on 1 August 2024, due to bankruptcy, Bordeaux was forcibly relegated to theChampionnat National 2 and put into financial administration by the French football controlling body, the National Directorate of Management Control/DNCG (French:Direction Nationale du Contrôle de Gestion).[28]
Bordeaux has two main rivalries, firstly theDerby de la Garonne withToulouse FC, so named because Bordeaux andToulouse are the two major clubs that play in cities in south-western France, both of which are on the riverGaronne. The consistency and competitiveness of the rivalry developed following Toulouse's return to Ligue 1 after being administratively relegated to the Championnat National in 2001. Les Girondins also contest theDerby de l'Atlantique [Fr] with their other main rivalFC Nantes, with the name stemming from the two cities' proximity to theAtlantic Ocean. The history of this rivalry transcends over 50 years and 90 derby games have been played between the two clubs altogether.[29][30][31] Bordeaux also held a 44-year-old record against another big rival, Marseille. From October 1977 to January 2022, Marseille did not win away at Bordeaux's home ground.[32]
Since the start of the 2025–2026 season, the equipment manufacturer of the Girondins de Bordeaux wasHummel.[33] The club's main sponsors are the restaurant chainBistro Régent, the online betting companyBetclic and the car marqueSEAT Cupra.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
In its history, Bordeaux has had 46 coaches. The first was theSpaniardBenito Díaz. Díaz was the first Bordeaux coach to achieve an honour when, in 1941, the club won the Coupe de France. The first Bordeaux coach to win the league wasAndré Gérard. Gérard led the team to the league crown in 1950. He also has the honour of being the club's longest-serving coach having spent a decade with the club from 1947 to 1957. Gérard is followed byAimé Jacquet who spent nine seasons with the club in the 1980s. Under Jacquet, Bordeaux won three league titles and two Coupe de France titles.
FC Girondins de Bordeaux first competitive European match was in the1968–69 European Cup Winners' Cup, beating1. FC Köln 2–1 before ultimately losing 2–4 on aggregate. Since then, the club has participated in 30 UEFA competitions, its peak being the co-champions of the1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup and the final game of the1995–96 UEFA Cup.
From 14 August 2008 to 30 October 2018, theM6 Group carried a network about the club's activity known as "Girondins TV".[39] It carried pre-recorded matches during the season, reserve team games, training session rundowns, and a daily talk show.
