Monaco Basketball Club Declares Bankruptcy, Will Play in Third Division
Translated & summarized from Ice by baba
AS Monaco Basket, a top European basketball club, has declared bankruptcy and will cease operations, leading to its relegation to the French third division. The club, which achieved significant success including a EuroLeague final appearance and multiple French titles under Russian oligarch Alexei Fedorychev, faced financial ruin due to sanctions and asset seizures against Fedorychev. Despite emergency funding and a failed investor bid, the team could not be saved.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- AS Monaco Basket has declared bankruptcy and will play in the French third division.
- The club's financial collapse is linked to sanctions and asset seizures against its former owner, Alexei Fedorychev.
- Monaco Basket reached the EuroLeague final in 2025 and won multiple French championships.
- Emergency funding from Monaco and a potential investor group failed to save the club.
- In 2022/23, Monaco defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv in the EuroLeague quarterfinals.
AS Monaco Basket, a prominent European basketball club in recent years, announced on Wednesday that the company operating the team has gone bankrupt, leading to the cessation of its activities. The club hopes for a future restructuring to resume operations. Consequently, the team will be relegated to the third division in France, from which it aims to climb back up, mirroring its rise to the top of the French and European leagues.
In an official statement, the club described the day as "sad," acknowledging that despite efforts, operations would halt with the hope of finding a new path to restart the project. The statement highlighted the team's recent success, noting they were "undefeated last season, with every possible title in France" and had defeated "every big team in Europe," winning the EuroCup. The club emphasized that its legacy and fighting spirit cannot be erased, and the future now rests with the team competing in the third division with the goal of returning to the top.
The club's downfall is linked to its former owner, Russian businessman and oligarch Alexei Fedorychev. Fedorychev, who founded the fertilizer, chemicals, and grain trading company Fedcomibest, became the president and controlling owner of AS Monaco Basket in 2022. Under his ownership, substantial funds were injected into the club, transforming it into a European powerhouse with top European players.
However, Fedorychev faced significant legal and financial challenges. In December 2022, hundreds of thousands of tons of his goods were seized in Odesa, Ukraine, leading to a decade-long sanctions regime including trade restrictions and asset freezes. In 2024, Italian authorities confiscated 41 million euros worth of his assets as part of an investigation into alleged serious corruption, including bribery, fraud, and money laundering exceeding 60 million euros, purportedly using illicit funds invested through a Florence trust fund.
Despite emergency funding of approximately $30 million from the Principality of Monaco and an attempted takeover by a new investor group led by former NBA star Jamal Mashburn, which collapsed due to a lack of required guarantees, the club could not be saved. Monaco's peak achievements during Fedorychev's tenure include reaching the EuroLeague final in 2025, winning three French championships (2022/23, 2023/24, 2025/26), and two French Cups (2022/23, 2025/26). In the 2022/23 EuroLeague season, Monaco notably defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv in the quarterfinals.