AS Monaco Basketball: inside the collapse of a French champion

After the September 16 hearing, the club awaits a conciliator's ruling two days before third-tier basketball kicks off, with its future still unresolved.

A quadruple crowned by a first-ever French championship

AS Monaco capped the best season in its history on June 23, 2026, beating Paris Basketball 101-92 in Game 5 of the Betclic ÉLITE finals — France's top professional league — to win its first-ever French championship. The title completed a quadruple: the Supercoupe, the Leaders Cup, the Coupe de France and the league crown, all in the same season.

Game 5 came with drama attached. Point guard Matthew Strazel had been suspended by the FFBB's (the French Basketball Federation) Appeals Chamber before tip-off, and it was veteran guard Mike James who filled the void, returning after nearly two months away over a dispute about unpaid salaries. Elie Okobo added 12 points and 15 assists in 35 minutes, Juhann Begarin (1.96m) chipped in 18 points and 9 rebounds in just 21 minutes, and Jaron Blossomgame led all scorers with 27 points in 35 minutes — his last game for the club before leaving for Dubai Basketball.

Nothing in that Monte Carlo celebration hinted at what was coming. Within two months, the same club that had just swept every trophy available to it in French basketball would be fighting for survival, and by mid-September it would be playing amateur basketball rather than defending its crown. The gap between the two realities — champion in June, unrecognized by its own federation in September — is the core of this story.

A budget that collapsed in a matter of weeks

The trouble surfaced publicly on the morning of Tuesday, August 25, 2026, hours before a hearing at the CNOSF — France's National Olympic and Sports Committee, which mediates disputes between clubs and sports federations. Monaco's lawyer, Maître Xavier Le Cerf-Galle, told the newspaper Nice-Matin the club wanted a budget of roughly €12.5 million (about $13.5 million at a rough conversion) for the 2026-2027 season.

By the end of that same hearing, after roughly two and a half hours of conciliation, the number had already shrunk to between €6 million and €7 million (around $6.5-7.5 million). Monaco said it had identified about €5 million in resources, including €3.27 million already collected or documented, largely from sponsorship and transfer income. The club described itself as "effectively free of debt" after debt write-offs by shareholders and creditors. Le Cerf-Galle told Nice-Matin: "We presented with the utmost transparency the economic and financial situation of AS Monaco Basket, namely that of a club that no longer has systemic debt, whose financial situation has been cleaned up. And which already has 5 million euros in resources, including 3.3 million euros in documented resources from the start of the season."

Two days later, on Thursday, August 27, a major European company reportedly took control of the club and committed to bringing €10 million (about $10.8 million) for the season, with a first installment reportedly credited that same afternoon, per Nice-Matin. The CNOSF's recommendation, originally due August 26-27, was pushed to August 28 to account for the new information. Monaco's state financing body, the Société Nationale de Financement, reportedly validated the transaction. The whirlwind of numbers — from €12.5 million down to €6-7 million, then a reported €10 million injection — set the tone for a summer defined by financial uncertainty rather than basketball.

An NBA All-Star and Ronaldinho both come calling

Amid the financial chaos, Monaco pursued a takeover led by former NBA All-Star Jamal Mashburn, who starred for the Dallas Mavericks during his playing career, through his consortium Helen Holdings. The FFBB's Appeals Chamber needed to validate the project, and the club leaned heavily on it as its path back to stability.

A second bidder emerged on Monday, August 10, 2026, when Ronaldinho officially positioned himself as a candidate to take over the club, according to L'Équipe, backed by the Andorran investment fund Clayton Sport. A letter of intent reached Monaco's executive director, Oleksiy Yefimov, that same day. The Ronaldinho-Clayton Sport project reportedly could have settled a €2.5 million debt owed to the EuroLeague and provided the €5 million bank guarantee demanded by the DNCCG — the French federation's financial oversight body that vets professional clubs' budgets. The pair were said to be weighing a three-to-five-year commitment worth €10 million per season.

Neither bid survived. Businessman Benjamin Erisoglu, who had also floated himself as a candidate with a network of investors including a possible Ronaldinho connection, withdrew from the case on August 27, saying he wanted to "turn the page." And per BeBasket's own reporting, it was ultimately "the blunders of Jamal Mashburn" — whose backing the club had trusted blindly — that "precipitated its downfall." Monaco had bet its reinstatement on a takeover that never closed.

The federation shuts Monaco out of professional basketball

The CNOSF issued an unfavorable recommendation on Monaco's case, and by rule it could only weigh facts as they stood on August 1 — meaning the Mashburn project's collapse effectively sealed the outcome regardless of what came afterward. Twenty-four hours later, the FFBB refused to reopen Monaco's case on an emergency basis, despite what were described as "respectful requests" from the club.

The consequence was blunt: Monaco, the reigning French champion coming off an unprecedented quadruple, was refused entry into both Betclic ÉLITE (the top tier) and ÉLITE 2 (the second tier) — excluded from professional basketball entirely. The club's only remaining legal option was an administrative tribunal, but per Nice-Matin, its leadership did not intend to use it.

The fallout extended beyond domestic competition. Monaco was also dropped from the EuroCup, Europe's second-tier club competition, with organizer EuroLeague Basketball ruling the club no longer met eligibility requirements and replacing it with Bosna Sarajevo. Monaco explored the Adriatic-region ABA League as an alternative; league president Ostoja Mijailović confirmed on September 4 in Ljubljana that the club had made direct contact but said the calendar was already locked: "Monaco approached the ABA League wishing to play there. We had already established the competition's format and calendar. It is not possible to include them in the ABA League right now." He floated a possible entry into the league's second-tier ABA League 2 with promotion the following year, though that remains only a proposal.

Refused again, Monaco falls to the fourth tier

With professional basketball closed off, the most plausible route back for Monaco became Nationale 1 (NM1), France's third tier and a semi-professional level — the same path Limoges CSP took in 2004. Monaco's amateur association, with 455 registered members, hoped to take over the NM1 project, formally filing paperwork around September 1 under the stated goal, per BeBasket: "the objective is clear: return."

Ahead of the ruling, Monaco built a roster and new ownership structure for the attempt. Swiss company Swiss Montana AG, led by Thomas Kurk, took over 97% of the professional club's shares, with the amateur association keeping 2% and the Principality, via its state financing body, holding 1%. Yefimov stayed on as executive director, and coaches Sergii Gladyr and Manuchar Markoishvili — the duo who won the 2026 title — were expected to remain in charge. New signings included Axel Toupane (2.01m, 34), Kenny Kasiama (1.97m, 23, formerly of Vichy) and Luka Asceric (2.01m, 29, formerly of BC Vienna in Austria, where he averaged 12.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 4.7 assists), plus a fourth American reportedly signed but unconfirmed by name.

It wasn't enough. On Saturday, September 12, 2026, the FFBB's Federal Bureau definitively refused Monaco's NM1 application, following an unfavorable opinion from its Management Oversight Commission — the body that vets French clubs' financial reliability. The commission found Monaco had not built a file establishing the "sincerity and reliability" of its finances. The Federal Bureau considered a waiver in the name of "basketball's higher interest" but concluded it could harm "the integrity and fairness of competitions" it must guarantee. As a direct result, Monaco's top team fell back to Nationale 3, France's fourth tier — which had already opened its season that same Saturday against Golfe-Juan. With only three transferred players allowed at that level, rebuilding a competitive roster was described by BeBasket as difficult.

A second hearing, no certainty, two days before kickoff

The story is still moving. On Wednesday, September 16, 2026, Monaco appeared before the CNOSF for a second time, this time over its NM1 exclusion, arguing it had addressed the concerns behind the September 12 rejection. Le Cerf-Galle told BeBasket directly: "I answered all the questions and provided all the appropriate responses to all the doubts mentioned in the Federal Bureau's decision of September 12, backed by accounting documents and the auditor's certification."

Per L'Équipe, as relayed by BeBasket, nine players were training under Gladyr that week without knowing whether they would actually be allowed to compete. According to BeBasket's own reporting, the club had around €3 million in cash (roughly $3.2 million) in its bank accounts at that point.

The case now sits with a CNOSF conciliator, who must draft a proposal for both sides to review, with a decision expected imminently. The complication is timing: NM1's regular season opens Friday, September 18, 2026, meaning Monaco still had no certainty about its own participation just two days before the first games. Le Cerf-Galle remained hopeful: "I remain positive and convinced that the club's fully cleaned-up situation, its new project, and the higher interest of French basketball will prevail over any other consideration, and that the FFBB will fairly and happily welcome AS Monaco Basket into NM1." Whether that optimism holds will be known within days.

Who's gone, who's left, and who might still come

The champion roster has scattered. Mike James left at the end of the season, in what BeBasket called "the end of a major, golden cycle" for the club. Strazel said his goodbyes with a possible move to Turkey reportedly on the table. Mathis Dossou-Yovo (2.06m, 25), who had posted 17.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game at Nanterre, had an agreement with Monaco but signed with ASVEL instead, announced August 24. Nikola Mirotic and Nemanja Nedovic remained under contract with uncertain futures as the rebuild reporting unfolded over the summer.

Before the financial collapse accelerated, Monaco had been chasing a roster built around France's JFL rule — a quota requiring a minimum number of French-trained players. Daron Russell (1.80m, 28), the leading scorer of the 2025-2026 EuroCup at 19.8 points, 6.2 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game, and an All-EuroCup Second Team pick, was confirmed for the project. Begarin was described as the top JFL priority. Former Monaco captain Yakuba Ouattara (1.90m, 34) was in talks to return after his Paris Basketball contract expired, and Joël Ayayi (1.93m, 26) was also a target. Nineteen-year-old point guard Kyllian Michée could not yet count as a JFL player because of his long Real Madrid academy background, but he stayed part of Monaco's young talent pool through the NM1-to-NM3 fallback.

That top-flight plan is gone. What remains, for now, is a Nationale 3 roster anchored by Toupane, Kasiama and Asceric, plus power forward Gavin Kensmil (2.01m, 27, Surinamese), who signed before the NM1 rejection and kept training with the club afterward — a lone piece of continuity in a roster still waiting to learn which division it will actually play in.

Frequently asked questions about Monaco's collapse

Is AS Monaco Basketball still playing professional basketball currently? No. The club was refused entry into both Betclic ÉLITE and ÉLITE 2, France's two professional tiers, and was also rejected from Nationale 1, the third-tier semi-professional league, on September 12, 2026. It has fallen back to Nationale 3, the fourth tier, while a second CNOSF hearing over the NM1 decision remains pending.

Why was AS Monaco excluded from Betclic ÉLITE? The CNOSF issued an unfavorable recommendation on the club's financial situation, tied largely to the collapse of a planned takeover by Jamal Mashburn's Helen Holdings group. The FFBB then refused to reopen the case, leaving Monaco excluded from both professional tiers.

Who tried to buy AS Monaco Basketball? Former NBA All-Star Jamal Mashburn, through his Helen Holdings consortium, and separately Ronaldinho, backed by the Andorran fund Clayton Sport. Both bids ultimately failed to secure the club's reinstatement. Ownership later passed to Swiss company Swiss Montana AG, led by Thomas Kurk.

What is the Roca Team? It is the nickname used for AS Monaco's basketball club, referenced in French coverage of its fall to Nationale 3 for the 2026-2027 season.

Did AS Monaco win the French championship? Yes. Monaco won its first-ever Betclic ÉLITE title on June 23, 2026, beating Paris Basketball 101-92 in Game 5, as part of a season-long quadruple that also included the Supercoupe, the Leaders Cup and the Coupe de France.

Where did Mike James go after Monaco? James left Monaco at the end of the 2025-2026 season, described by BeBasket as the end of a major, golden cycle for the club; his next destination has not been reported.