Le Coq Sportif provided FFR with kits from 2018 through 2024. (Xavier Laine/Getty Images)

French rugby union’s FFR governing body has filed a lawsuit claiming unpaid debt against its embattled former kit manufacturer, Le Coq Sportif.

The FFR has filed a compulsory liquidation order against the French sportswear brand in order to try and recoup €5.3 million (US$5.9 million) it claims is owed to it by Le Coq Sportif.

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Le Coq Sportif produced kits for the French national team from 2018 through to this year, when it was replaced by German giant Adidas earlier this month.

Florian Grill, the FFR’s president, has told French media outlet AFP that the owed money stems from unpaid royalties, sponsorship contracts, and late interest payments.

In recent years the brand’s financial woes have deepened, in spite of securing an apparel contract for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and Team France.

In fact, Le Coq Sportif reportedly requested emergency funding from the Olympic organizers in order to fulfill that particular deal, on top of a €10 million loan from the French government undertaken in 2023.

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These issues have been exacerbated primarily by the brand's inability to secure a foothold in the footwear industry, a failure that saw its revenue drop by €20 million in the 2023 financial year.

Gill added that while the FFR had crafted debt repayment plans for Le Coq Sportif, the brand had not followed them, forcing the rugby union body to take legal action.

The court hearing on the case is set for September 27.

Le Coq Sportif’s six-year partnership with the FFR was worth a reported €30 million over the course of the contract, or €5 million annually.

The brand replaced adidas at a time when French rugby union was at a nadir, and partnered the governing body through its resurrection up to eventual world number one, and 2023 Rugby World Cup host.