AS Monaco Basketball Collapses: From EuroLeague Final to Bankruptcy in One Year

"Today is a sad day." With those words, AS Monaco Basket confirmed on Wednesday what had been looming for months: the club has declared bankruptcy and is dissolving. While leaving the door open for a future restructuring that might one day allow it to return, the project that rose from French second division to play a EuroLeague final in a decade comes to an end here.

What stands out most is the speed of the collapse. In June, AS Monaco closed out a perfect season in France, winning the league, the Cup, and the Leaders Cup. In 2025, they had played in the EuroLeague final. Four months later, the team no longer exists.

A club dependent on a single man

The problem ran deep. AS Monaco was sustained almost entirely by money from its owner, Aleksej Fedorychev, whose business group, with its main operations in Ukraine, was severely impacted by the war. When that money stopped flowing, there was nothing behind it. To finish the 2025-26 season and pay salaries through June 30, the Government of the Principality had to provide emergency loans to the club.

From there, everything cascaded. In July, the French basketball financial control body denied the club registration in the Betclic Élite due to lack of financial guarantees. Appeals failed, despite the emergence of potential buyers. On September 1, EuroLeague Basketball removed it from the EuroCup for failing to meet regulatory requirements and replaced it with Bosna Sarajevo. The next day, its administrative relegation to the third tier was confirmed. Today's announcement is the end of that process.

Twelve years, nine titles

The trophy cabinet it leaves behind is extensive for such a short project. It won three French leagues (2023, 2024, and 2026), two French Cups (2023 and 2026), four Leaders Cups (2016, 2017, 2018, and 2026), one Super Cup (2025), and the EuroCup in 2021, the first European title for a Principality team in a collective sport. Previously, it had won Pro B in 2015.

In its five seasons in the EuroLeague, AS Monaco played in two Final Fours and one final, the 2025 final. It was also four-time runner-up in France and finalist in the Basketball Champions League in 2018.

A roster scattered across Europe

The consequences of the crisis are evident in this season's rosters. Mike James, the all-time leading scorer in EuroLeague history, signed with Anadolu Efes and ruptured his Achilles tendon last week. Nikola Mirotic ended up at Valencia Basket after a summer in which he considered retirement, and is already proving key to the undefeated leaders. Yoan Makoundou, who had left Monaco in the spring, is one of eleven new faces at Barcelona.

The statement

The club bids farewell to its fans, the "Roca family," with a text more emotional than explanatory. It speaks of "a rest" and the hope of "finding a path toward restructuring and, one day, relaunching the project." It insists that the club's greatest achievement "has never been a trophy," but rather the stands of the Gaston Médecin, and closes with the fans' rallying cry: "¡Daghe Munegu!"

Men's basketball in Monaco now rests in the hands of the ASM Association, the club's grassroots structure, whose first team plays in Nationale 3. AS Monaco passes the torch to it, "with the hope that one day red and white will return to the highest level."