The French National Directorate of Control and Management (DNCG) decided this Friday sanction Olympique Lyon with their relegation to Ligue 2 if the financial situation of the Lyon club does not improve at the end of this season, and has also prohibited it from signing players during the next winter market.
This was reported by the French newspaper ‘L’Équipe’, regarding a sanction that late in the afternoon contrasted with the morning optimism of John Textor, owner of OL, when leaving his appearance in the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP). “The meeting went well,” stated the majority shareholder of OL Groupe.
But his arguments later collided with the French football control body, which requested Olympique to have payroll control in view of that winter transfer market. And as a precautionary measure at the end of the course, ‘L’Équipe’ stressed that the Lyon team will be relegated “if its financial situation does not improve.”
In a recent press release, Olympique had presented a debt of 505.1 million euros and had expressed the doubts of its auditors considering “issuing an inability to certify on the corporate and consolidated accounts of Eagle Football Group.”
Olympique’s transfer activity had already been monitored in the summer of 2023, before measures were relaxed last winter and the Lyon entity passed its summer audit at the end of the 2023/24 campaign without incident.
