The Narbonne club, semi-finalist in Ligue A last season, saw its administrative relegation to the third division be confirmed on appeal by the DNACG, the National Volleyball League (LNV) announced on Tuesday. At the end of June, the club had already been refused, by the Commission for Aid and Control of Professional Clubs (CACCP), approval to play in League A during the 2022-2023 season. “The Superior Council of the DNACG, which heard the club of Narbonne on appeal, on July 12, confirmed, by its decision of July 13, 2022, the refusal of approval to evolve in LAM and the administrative demotion in the federal division pronounced by the CACCP in 1st instance“, can we read on the site of the LNV.
Winner of the Challenge Cup 2022, the third European level, and semi-finalist of Ligue A, Narbonne can still seize the CNOSF for a “possible appeal before the administrative judge“. In the event of official demotion, the club would therefore evolve into Elite, the third level of French volleyball. The French championship could at the same time integrate the Chinese national team from next season, in order to enable it to prepare for the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. A project which was “well advancedaccording to the president of the LNV Yves Bouget on July 6, even if certain points still had to be settled. Among them, the choice of the city where the selection would be based and that around the compensation paid by the Chinese Federation to be able to join League A.