Olympique Lyon's only hope is that its appeal will be granted // Photo: tribuna.com
The reason for the DNCG’s decision is the failure to meet financial criteria. Since 2022, when American businessman John Textor bought Olympique Lyon for more than €900 million, the club has had a €500 million deficit in its budget. A winter transfer campaign, cuts in technical staff, reductions in player salaries and investment have reduced the deficit to €250 million, but these measures have not been enough to satisfy the DNCG.
The DNCG’s decision does not concern Olympique Lyon’s performance in the Europa League (LE), whose participation the club secured on a sporting basis. It is quite possible that a club that plays in the second division plays in the Europa League, having won the tournament not as a winner of the national cup, but as a participant in the championship.
A few days earlier, John Textor sold his stake in English club Crystal Palace for €220 million to avoid being excluded from the LE. UEFA threatened to exclude the club after both Crystal Palace and Olympique Lyon, which belonged to the same owner, earned a place in Europe’s second most important club competition.
The Lyon-based club has filed an appeal against the decision to be excluded from next season’s Ligue 1 competition. “Our club considers the decision handed down by the DNCG incomprehensible and confirms that it is immediately filing an appeal and is ready to provide all the necessary guarantees to financially secure its continued participation in Ligue 1. Over the last few months we have worked closely with the DNCG, fulfilling all its requirements with equity investments. Thanks to the contributions and the sale of Crystal Palace, our cash position has improved significantly and we have more than enough resources for next season. With the proven capital and sporting success that has brought us a place in the European cups, we sincerely do not understand how an administrative decision can relegate such a large French club,” reads the press release made public by Olympique Lyon.
Olympique Lyon finished in sixth place at the end of the previous Ligue 1 season. The club was founded in 1950 and is one of the most titled in France. It won the French championship for seven consecutive seasons (2002-2008), the National Cup five times and the Super Cup eight times. The club has twice been a Champions League semifinalist (2010, 2020), reached the semifinals of the Cup Winners’ Cup (1964) and Europa League (2017). In 1997, it won the Intertoto Cup.
