Ronaldinho among investors eyeing AS Monaco Basket rescue
By Zak Jackson, MonacoViews Editorial
A trio of investors including Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho formally expressed interest on 10 August in taking over AS Monaco Basket ahead of a critical CNOSF appeal.
Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho has emerged as part of a three-man investor group that formally declared its interest in rescuing AS Monaco Basket on 10 August, in what would be one of the more extraordinary takeover bids in French sport. The club, reigning French champions, is fighting to preserve its professional status after a ruling that has put its future in serious doubt.
The investors' approach comes with time running short before the club's appeal hearing before the CNOSF, France's national Olympic and sports committee, which represents the last realistic opportunity to overturn the decision threatening its place in professional basketball. Whether the Ronaldinho-backed group can move quickly enough, and whether its financial credentials satisfy the relevant authorities, remains to be seen.
For Monaco residents who have watched the Roca Team build genuine European pedigree in recent seasons, the stakes are considerable. Losing professional status would strip the Principality of one of its most competitive sporting clubs at a moment when its profile in the Basketball Champions League has never been higher.