A CLUB co-owned by France captain Kylian Mbappe has been RELEGATED to the French third tier.
It comes less than a year after Mbappe purchased a majority stake in Stade Malherbe Caen through his investment fund, Coalition Capital.
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On Friday night, Caen fell 3-0 at home to Martigues, making their relegation to the semi-pro National 1 third-tier official.
It’s the first time the Normandy side have been out of France’s top two professional leagues since 1984.
Their relegation was confirmed with three games still left to play, and just a few days after Mbappe limped off during Arsenal’s 2-1 win at the Bernabeu in the Champions League quarter-final second leg.
With the worst defensive record in the division, Caen won just five times all season and deservedly went down.
And the world’s youngest active player-owner Mbappe, 26, has been partly blamed by a section of fans.
A banner was unfurled by the ultras at full-time which read: “Management, players: all guilty, all out.”
Another read: “Malherbe is us, the s*** is you,” referring to the team’s full name, Stade Malherbe Caen.
Several different banners hit out at the RealMadrid star before and after the new year.
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One said: “Mbappe, SMC is not your toy” and another said “Before wanting to shine internationally, respect the local figures.”
In February, Mbappe finally found time in his busy schedule to visit the club’s training ground after scoring a hat-trick against Manchester City in the Champions League.
The World Cup winner invested around €15 million via his investment fund to acquire 80 per cent of the club’s capital and paid off part of the club’s debt.
The remaining 20 per cent is held by Pierre Antoine Capton, current president of the club’s supervisory board.
But Caen endured a horror transfer window, before hiring and firing THREE different managers.
Nicolas Seube began the season as gaffer before being sacked early on.
Bruno Baltazar lost all seven of the games that he took charge of, whilst Michel Der Zakarian has failed to save the club from its inevitable fate.
SM Caen have played in Ligue 2 since they were relegated from the top flight in 2019.
Mbappe actually has some personal history with the club.
Ouest France have detailed how the superstar could have signed for them at the age of 11.
The club’s youth recruitment team, led by Laurent Glaize, kept track of the attacker for three years.
Mbappe will now serve a one-match ban after being sent off for a lunge on Alaves midfielder Antonio Blanco last weekend.
The France captain was shown a straight red card during Madrid’s 1-0 La Liga win on Sunday for a lunge on Alaves midfielder Antonio Blanco.
The referee’s report stated Mbappe was sent off for violent conduct, which results in a punishment of between one to three matches.
A three-match ban would have seen Mbappe miss the Copa del Rey final against their El Clasico rivals on 26 April.
But a commission decided on the most lenient punishment of a one-match ban, which was aided by the referee’s report that Mbappe was “disputing the ball”.
