“With great disappointment”
Oliver Kahn leaves 50 million euro deal burst
02.06.2025 – 8:52 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Oliver Kahn and some investors wanted to invest around 50 million euros in Girondis Bordeaux. But the deal has burst.
There will be no return to the big football stage with Oliver Kahn in Bordeaux for the time being. The former Bayern goalkeeper and ex-CEO of the record champion wanted to join an investor group at the French tradition of Girondins Bordeaux. But after months of examination, Kahn is now back. On the LinkedIn platform, the 55-year-old said that after “intensive discussions and considerations”, the decision was made against the investment.
“After examining the financial, operational and legal information that was finally made available to us at the end of last week, we decided not to invest the approximately 50 million euros that were intended in our plan to bring FCGB back to where it belongs – in Ligue 1,” wrote Kahn. Despite extensive preparations, this decision had now been made “with great disappointment”, the statement said.
The French club is in a severe crisis. After bankruptcy and forced relegation, Girondin’s Bordeaux now plays in the fourth -class National 2. The debts of the former master are said to have had more than 100 million euros recently.
A reconstruction would have expected Kahn – in an association that once belonged to the elite in French football. In 1996 Bordeaux and FC Bayern met in the UEFA Cup final. Stars such as Zinédine Zidane and Bixente Lizarazu stood in the French team. Back then, Kahn guarded the Munich goal.
The former national goalkeeper had already expressed his interest in an investment in football in summer. “Investing in football is different than in a screw manufacturer. Football is about culture, identity, community. If everything fits together, I can imagine it very well,” the vice world champion from 2002 told the “kicker”.