Fallen French football giants Bordeaux move closer to extinction

Bordeaux: Bordeaux, once one of France's leading football clubs and the team where the country's new head coach Zinedine Zidane made his name, lurched further into trouble on Friday. newsindata.com

After years of crippling financial problems, the spectre of judicial liquidation is looming over the Girondins after the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) rejected their latest appeal against exclusion from the national leagues.

The measure, notified to the club on Friday, according to its vice-president Arnaud De Carli, means the six-time French champions are barred from playing in the fourth tier in the coming season, as they had hoped.

They have instead been relegated to the sixth tier.

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Bordeaux have 15 days to file an appeal, but the fourth-tier season starts on August 22.

They were sanctioned for failing to provide the roughly ten million euros ($11.6 million) needed for the 2025-2026 financial year, finance that of 2026-2027 and meet debt payments.
Zidane played for Bordeaux between 1992 and 1996.

Doha: Qatar’s U-18 national basketball team will begin their campaign at the FIBA Asia Championship when they face Iran at 11:00 am Doha time today, at the Veer Savarkar Indoor Hall in Ahmedabad, India.

The match marks the opening fixture of Group C in the continental tournament, which runs from August 13 to 23 with the participation of 16 teams.

In the other Group C clash, China will meet Sri Lanka today, setting the stage from the very first round for the battle over the two quarterfinal qualification spots.

Qatar’s encounter with Iran carries added significance, as both teams enter the competition with different ambitions but share the same goal of securing a strong start to gain early advantage in a group that also includes China and Sri Lanka.

Following the opener against Iran, Qatar will face China on August 16 and conclude their group stage campaign against Sri Lanka on August 18.

Group stage matches run from August 13 to 18. The top team from each group advances directly to the quarterfinals, while the second- and third-placed teams contest playoff qualifiers on August 20. Quarterfinals will be held on August 21, semifinals on August 22, and the championship final on August 23.

Paris: Spanish international Ferran Torres, who scored the only goal in last month's World Cup final, signed for two-time Champions League winners Paris Saint Germain from Barcelona on Saturday.

The 26-year-old striker cost the Ligue 1 champions a reported 50 million euros ($58 million).

"Paris Saint-Germain is delighted to announce it has secured the services of Ferran Torres. The Spanish World Cup-winning forward has signed with the Club until 2031," read the club statement.

Beirut: Qatar's men's beach volleyball team, represented by Mohammed Ehab and Mousa Al Khair, won the silver medal after finishing runners-up in the second and final round of the 2026 West Asia Beach Volleyball Championship in Batroun, Lebanon.

The Qatari duo defeated Kuwait 2-0 in the quarterfinals and Lebanon 2-0 in the semifinals before losing the final 2-1 to Lebanon's Jad Abi Karam and Hadi Shbeib, who claimed gold.

The achievement adds to Qatar's growing record of success in beach volleyball at the regional and continental levels.