Footballogue
@Footballogue🔴 To stay in Ligue 1, OL will have to € immediately and guarantee € 😳 It's likely to be very hot 7 days before the appeal committee! (The Team)
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Financial Watchdog Demotes Lyon to Ligue 2, Club Appeals
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French football’s financial watchdog, the Direction Nationale de Contrôle de Gestion, confirmed on 24 June that Olympique Lyonnais will be administratively relegated to Ligue 2 for the 2025-26 season after an audit found the club’s finances to be insufficient. The ruling ends the top-flight status of the seven-time champions despite their sixth-place finish in Ligue 1, a position that had earned them a berth in next season’s Europa League.
The DNCG had provisionally threatened demotion in November and upheld the sanction after reviewing the books of Lyon’s parent company, Eagle Football. Reuters reported liabilities of roughly £422 million and noted that owner John Textor had just agreed to sell his 43 per cent stake in Crystal Palace to bolster cash reserves. Player sales and cost-cutting measures were also introduced, but the watchdog judged the guarantees inadequate.
Lyon called the decision “incomprehensible” and said it would file an immediate appeal. According to L’Équipe, the case will be heard on 10 July by the DNCG’s appeals commission at the French Football Federation. Textor maintains the club now has “more than sufficient resources” to meet 2025-26 obligations, citing fresh equity injections and the Crystal Palace sale proceeds.
If the relegation is upheld, Stade de Reims—beaten in the play-offs—would stay in Ligue 1, and Lyon would forfeit European competition next season. The prospect of a powerhouse dropping to the second tier has sent shockwaves through French football and raises broader questions about financial oversight in the domestic game.
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