The Paris Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld the ruling against the FFR in the case of the abandoned “Grand Stade” project at Ris-Orangis (Essonne), launched under former president Pierre Camou. According to the judgment handed down, the federation must pay a further 370,299 euros to Ibelys – the consortium that was to build the stadium – in compensation for unilaterally terminating the contract without legitimate grounds.

An 82,000-seat stadium

That titanic project, conceived in the early 2010s, was intended to give the FFR an 82,000-seat stadium, designed to host several rugby matches as well as various cultural events. Costed at 600 million euros, the project was meant to free the federation from its dependence on the Stade de France.

But as early as January 2017, days before taking over the presidency, Bernard Laporte decided to terminate – in “cavalier” fashion, according to the judges – the contract with Ibelys, bringing the project to an abrupt halt. That decision had already led to an initial ruling in 2022 ordering payment of 150,000 euros, followed by this appeal ruling handed down on 5 November.

12 million euros already invested

The appeal court found that the FFR had put forward no legitimate cause for the termination, and that this contractual failing had directly caused loss to Ibelys. The result: the Grand Stade fiasco – for a ground that will never see the light of day – now costs several hundred thousand euros in damages, on top of the more than 12 million euros already spent on studies and the 3.36 million paid to local authorities in the Essonne.

For the FFR, now run by a new team, the decision closes a painful chapter, while underlining the importance of contractual rigour on major sporting projects. Ibelys, for their part, finally obtain compensation, modest compared with the initial ambitions, but symbolic of an aborted project.