The AS Monaco basketball club, reigning French champions and 2025 EuroLeague runners-up, has officially applied to enter France’s third-tier semi-amateur division, the Nationale Masculine 1 (NM1), following a severe and protracted financial crisis that has barred the team from professional competition, according to reports confirmed by Agence France-Presse and outlets including France 24 and Le Monde.
The Fall from the Elite
Monaco’s descent marks a sudden end for a powerhouse that claimed a historic domestic quadruple—winning the Betclic Élite championship, French Cup, Supercup, and Leaders Cup—just months prior, alongside reaching the EuroLeague Final Four in 2023 and 2025. Yet, mounting debts, unpaid luxury taxes levied by the Ligue Nationale de Basket (LNB) for exceeding salary caps, and unresolved financial obligations to EuroLeague officials triggered a cascade of administrative sanctions over the summer.
The financial turmoil initially came to a head on July 3, when the LNB’s financial watchdog, the Direction Nationale du Conseil et du Contrôle de Gestion (DNCCG), refused to register Monaco in the top-flight Betclic Élite or second-tier Élite 2 for the upcoming campaign. The DNCCG cited an absence of sufficient guarantees regarding the club’s economic viability and incomplete takeover dossiers.
Failed Takeovers and Administrative Dead Ends
Club leadership spent weeks attempting to salvage their professional standing through various appeals and potential investors. Management initially pinned its hopes on a proposed takeover by American investment fund Helen Holdings, spearheaded by former NBA player Jamal Mashburn. However, the French basketball federation’s (FFBB) appeal chamber confirmed the exclusion after determining that required financial documents had not been delivered within mandated deadlines.
During a subsequent conciliation hearing before the Comité National Olympique et Sportif Français (CNOSF) on August 25, Monaco officials presented a revised budget trimmed by several millions of euros alongside a new investor proposal promising €10 million. Despite these efforts, the CNOSF issued an unfavorable recommendation on August 28, sealing the club’s exclusion from professional leagues.
Efforts to find an alternative escape route via the Adriatic League—which features clubs from the former Yugoslavia alongside Dubai—also proved futile, while EuroLeague organizers formally removed the club from the EuroCup competition, replacing it with Bosnian side Bosna Sarajevo due to Monaco’s failure to meet domestic league participation requirements.
Rebuilding from the Ground Up
Faced with total exclusion from the professional pyramid, the club’s leadership announced on Tuesday, September 1, that it would submit a formal application to enter the NM1 ahead of the season restart on September 18. In an official statement cited by France 24, the club stated its intention to “engage the refundation of its sporting, economic, and societal project on solid and sustainable bases,” with the ultimate goal to “return through sport and the field” and reclaim its standing at the summit of French basketball.
Legal representation for the club, Xavier Le Cerf-Galle, confirmed to AFP that the application had been lodged and that a formal response from the FFBB was anticipated later in the week. The squad that dominated European and domestic competitions has largely dismantled; the club enters its third-tier transition with nearly its entire first-team roster departed, leaving Juhann Begarin as the sole player remaining under contract—though legal representatives noted his ambitions to play at the European level make his departure likely. Consequently, Monaco will rely heavily on prospects from its youth development academy (pôle Espoir) to construct its opening roster for the NM1 campaign.
What Comes Next
The FFBB is expected to issue a formal decision regarding Monaco’s Nationale 1 candidacy in the coming days, pending any supplementary administrative requirements. NM1 fixtures are scheduled to tip off on September 18.
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