SPORTS: Top Swiss Soccer Club Servette Goes Bust

One of Switzerland's oldest football clubs, Servette Geneva, slid into bankruptcy after potential investors pulled out of a rescue bid.

Servette said it was withdrawing its appeal against a bankruptcy order, opening the way for its immediate relegation from the top flight to Switzerland's third division.

"Servette is definitely bankrupt", the club announced on its website. They had been eighth in the ten-club Swiss Super League. Servette have won 17 Swiss league titles and seven Swiss cups in their 115--year history.

But the Geneva side's fortunes on the pitch declined in recent years as successive new owners failed to come true on their financial pledges. The final blow followed a battle involving potential Middle Eastern investors, local politicians and the French players' agent Marc Roger who bought the ailing club a year ago with promises of backing from ex-Real Madrid chairman Lorenzo Sanz.

Instead, the club accumulated 11 million Swiss francs (seven million euros, nine million dollars) of fresh debt and struggled to find results or a few thousand fans for league games in the 35,000 capacity stadium built recently for the Euro 2008 tournament.

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