Gerard Bourgoin, leading figure of French soccer, has died at 85

By Canadian Press on March 3, 2025.

AUXERRE, France (AP) — Gérard Bourgoin, the former president of soccer club Auxerre who also chaired the French league, has died, his former team said on Monday. He was 85.

Bourgoin was a major sponsor of the club and its vice-president when it grew into a force to be reckoned with under coach Guy Roux, both in France and on the European stage. The club won a French league-Cup double in 1996 and made it to the quarterfinals of the Champions League a year later.

Auxerre (AJA) did not give the cause of his death. Local media reported Bourgoin died after feeling faint while driving back from the Abbé-Deschamps, where he attended the French league game between Auxerre and Strasbourg on Sunday.

In a statement, the club mourned the loss of “an immense official who worked all his life to develop AJA and make it shine.”

Bourgoin, a butcher by training, made his fortune by setting up a company specializing in poultry and used to call himself the “King of Chicken.”

Auxerre said Bourgoin brought to the club “not only his business and negotiating skills, but also his flying skills, as his private jet enabled the players to travel in the best possible conditions, well before anyone else.”

Bourgoin became president of the French league in 2000 and took over as Auxerre president in 2011, stepping down two years later.

“We are losing a great man, a great leader and a great figure in the history of AJA,” Auxerre said.

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The Associated Press