Servette football club goes bankrupt
115-year-old Servette bankrupt
AP
Servette, one of the most successful football clubs in Switzerland for more than a century, was declared bankrupt on Friday and will be demoted, a club statement said.
"The worst news in the 115-year history of the club has been announced," said the Servette statement.
"This morning Judge Patrick Chenaux declared bankrupt the corporate parent of Servette FC."
The Geneva club, which reportedly has debts exceeding 10 million Swiss francs ($A10.78 million), said it had 10 days to appeal.
European football's governing body UEFA said it regretted the development, but that it expected Switzerland to be able to meet its obligations to provide four stadiums as co-host for the 2008 European football championship.
"It is obviously very bad news for Geneva football," said UEFA spokesman William Gaillard told The Associated Press.
"We're all sad about that, but as far as 2008 is concerned, it is largely irrelevant."
Gaillard said Servette didn't own the new 30,084-seat Stade de Geneve, but was only managing it.
The venue is to be one of the Swiss stadiums for the competition co-hosted with Austria.
"It won't affect 2008 as far as we can see," Gaillard said.
"We have a stadium agreement with the stadium owners."
Servette will now have to play two tiers below the top league.
The Geneva side has won 17 Swiss league championships and seven cups.
After finishing third in the Super League top flight last year, Servette was eligible for this season's UEFA Cup, but was eliminated in the second qualifying round.
Although it has a new stadium - built for Euro 2008 - Servette finds it difficult to attract local fans and financing, often playing in front of just a few thousand spectators.
According to local press reports, the club has not paid its players since September.
The best-know player this year, former France midfielder Christian Karembeu, 34, signed a five-month contract with French first division side Bastia on Monday.
Other players have also reportedly been leaving.
Football clubs in Switzerland, with a population of 7.3 million, have found it increasingly difficult in recent years to balance their finances as players' wages have rocketed, and many of the top players have been tempted abroad.
Servette is the third Swiss top-flight side since 2002 to declare bankruptcy, after Lausanne and Lugano.
Grasshoppers of Zurich - which has won more trophies than any other Swiss side - is also in a deep financial crisis.
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