AS Monaco Basket has been rejected again by the French Basketball Federation. Excluded from professional championships for the 2026-2027 season, the Roca Team must now decide on the future of its sports project.
The saga surrounding AS Monaco Basket seems to be at a standstill. The FFBB federal board refused to reconsider the file submitted by the club on Friday. A request made urgently after the failure of the procedure before the CNOSF.
The Roca Team had highlighted new financial elements. Among these elements was the entry into capital of “a European industrialist“, with a commitment to mobilize 10 million euros for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. The club also mentioned the “complete debt repayment of the club” and a sufficiently well-funded bank account.
These guarantees therefore did not allow the file to be reopened. The FFBB confirmed the maintenance of the decision to exclude the club from professional championships.
The club does not seem willing to immediately seek recourse to the administrative court. This avenue remains possible nonetheless. A new procedure would allow the decision to be contested before the administrative courts, but AS Monaco Basket would not be considering it immediately.
A possible move to National 1
The other question now concerns the championship in which Monaco could compete. A place could become available in National 1, the third level of French basketball. A solution that would allow the Roca Team to remain in professional or semi-professional basketball, with a framework different from Betclic Elite and without needing too large a squad.
The FFBB is said to have discussed this possibility with Monegasque officials. A hypothesis that recalls the situation of Limoges in 2004, after the disappearance of the club’s professional team.
In the absence of a place in National 1, AS Monaco Basket could have to return to the amateur level. The choice must be made quickly as the 2026-2027 season approaches.
The decision comes two months after Monaco’s clean sweep in France. French Champions, winners of the French Cup, the Leaders Cup and the Supercup, the Roca Team now finds itself without professional competition for the upcoming season.
European future is also in limbo. In the current state, Monaco could not participate in the Eurocup, a competition won in 2021 before access to the Euroleague.
The upcoming meetings scheduled in the Principality should help define the next steps of the project. Me Xavier Le Cerf-Galle, lawyer for AS Monaco Basket, announced “important meetings are scheduled Monday and Tuesday in the Principality to define the scope of the refoundation of AS Monaco Basket in the very short and medium term in order to return as soon as possible to the highest level […] Whatever is precisely decided, there will be high-level basketball in Monaco”, the lawyer also assured.
The Roca Team must now determine in what form to continue its adventure. Time is running out, as Saint-Quentin is heading for a repechage in Betclic Elite and Fos-sur-Mer could return to Elite 2. The official announcement of the National Basketball League remains expected in the coming days.
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