French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen officially confirmed Monday the completion of the ownership transfer of Ligue 2 club Sochaux to Chinese company Ledus, according to XINHUA. Club President Denis Worbe said, "This is the culmination of a process begun almost a year ago." It makes Sochaux the first football club in Europe "under the full control of a Chinese investor, and the third in France with a foreign ownership" following Ligue 1 clubs Monaco and Paris St. Germain. Ledus' holding company Tech Pro Technology Development Chair Li Wing Sang said, "We do not want to change anything in the club. The goal is to keep its culture and to make its history continue." He ensured the intention is to "be there for the long term." He added, "We are not traders." Seven weeks ago, Ledus reached an agreement with the French carmaker to buy 100% of Sochaux's shares for €7M ($7.7M) (XINHUA, 7/7). INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL's David Owen wrote "few deals tell us as much about what football was, and what it is becoming," as the recent transaction for a reported €7M. It is "partly that the buyer is Chinese -- a phrase expected to be heard more and more in and around European football in coming years." But the "significance of the sale that may breathe new life" into Sochaux lies "lies at least as much in the era that it brings to a close." Based in the same town as an important Peugeot car manufacturing plant, Sochaux has "traditionally been a classic example of a company football club." Le Monde wrote, "A page is turning, or rather a chapter -- and a long one at that. Peugeot and FC Sochaux have just separated after 87 years of union." This model "has been dying for a good 25 years." The "assassin? Yes, pay-TV and the digitalisation that has facilitated the proliferation of channels and media platforms we are witnessing" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 7/7).
