FC Martigues have been excluded from all national-level competitions by the DNCG, French football’s financial watchdog, and are now expected to return to regional football for the first time in 55 years. The decision, announced on Friday following a virtual hearing, marks a dramatic fall for the southern club, who were playing in Ligue 2 last season. The DNCG cited the club’s failure to provide both the required documentation and evidence of pre-financing for the 2025/26 season.
Despite the possibility of an appeal, the FFF’s federal DNCG commission has referred Martigues back to their regional league — likely Régional 1, where their reserve side already plays. This would effectively mean the end of the club’s current professional structure and a return to an associative model.The collapse follows a breakdown in communication and responsibility from Martigues’ American shareholder, Lepa Galeb-Roskopp, CEO of the EU FUTBOL LLC group, who reportedly failed to submit the necessary guarantees on time due to the US Independence Day holiday.
Since taking over, the American investors had injected approximately €7m into the project, keeping Martigues afloat up to the end of the 2024/25 season. But with no additional funding secured for the new campaign and the club’s business revenue “equal to that of a lower-half National 2 side”, according to Wantiez, a professional future for the FCM now looks untenable.GFFN | George Boxall
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