Investigative journalist Romain Molina publicly criticized Tony Parker over ASVEL’s financial instability. Recent reports indicate the club’s budget was slashed from projected €59 million to €24 million, leading to the departure of star signings and growing uncertainty regarding the team’s future roster.
A well-known French investigative sports journalist, Romain Molina, reacted to the recent news about LDLC ASVEL-Villeurbanne.
Following growing uncertainty regarding ASVEL’s roster for the upcoming season, Molina publicly called out the team’s owner and head coach, Tony Parker.
“For years now, Tony Parker has been pulling off one shady deal after another, leading disaster-class fundraising campaigns for ASVEL,” Molina tweeted. “For years, he’s been getting a pass (especially from the LNB) just because he’s Tony Parker.”
“At some point, the circus has to stop (along with lying to players about money that’s never going to show up),” he added.
As BasketNews reported on Wednesday, Sylvain Francisco will not be the only high-profile signing to leave ASVEL before the 2026-27 season begins.
Francisco had been expected to become the face of ASVEL’s new project, which was built around ambitious investment plans led by club president and now head coach Tony Parker.
However, in mid-July, L’Équipe reported that ASVEL could operate with a significantly smaller budget than initially projected for the 2026-27 season.
The club has presented French league officials with a revised financial plan based on a budget of approximately €24 million, a sharp reduction from the initially projected €59 million budget.
Credit Marie Bassery/EuroLeague via Getty Images
The original financial plan was expected to support a player payroll exceeding €20 million net.
While Parker has publicly expressed confidence that ASVEL’s financial issues will be resolved, BasketNews sources indicate that the futures of several major offseason additions remain uncertain.
The club’s last player announcements came on July 7, when Yves Pons returned to ASVEL, and July 8, when Mbaye Ndiaye signed a contract extension. Since then, ASVEL has not officially confirmed any further roster additions.
Romain Molina’s credibility and investigative reports
Molina is prominent for his work in football, where he is best-known for exposing corruption, match-fixing, and systemic sexual abuse within sports federations – most notably FIFA and the Haitian Football Federation.
His work has been published in major international outlets including The New York Times, The Guardian, CNN, and BBC, leading to numerous official investigations and bans of corrupt officials.
However, Molina is also familiar with basketball. In 2021, he and Jere Longman exposed systemic sexual abuse and institutional cover-ups within the Malian Basketball Federation.
Their report alleged that the head of FIBA at the time, Hamane Niang (who previously served as president of the Malian Basketball Federation), knew or should have known about the widespread abuse taking place under his watch and failed to intervene.
Shortly after, Niang voluntarily resigned, while youth coaches were arrested, suspended, and handed lifetime bans by FIBA.
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