OFFICIAL: Olympique Lyon relegated to Ligue 2

Ligue 1 giants Olympique Lyon have been demoted to the second division after failing to improve their financial situation.

In late 2024, French football’s financial watchdog, the DNCG, announced that Lyon had been handed a provisional relegation to Ligue 2, which was to be enforced unless they could manage to fix their mounting debts totalling around €175 million before the start of the new season.

Lyon were also handed a transfer ban for January, but they managed to circumvent this particular sanction by signing Thiago Almada from Botafogo on a ‘free’ loan. Both clubs are owned by John Textor, so the Brazilian side had little choice but to accept this move.

Lyon raised around €30 million from sales in January, and €50m has been made available so far this summer through the departures of Rayan Cherki and Said Benrahama.

In addition to offloading players, Textor also sought to raise funds by other means, such as by selling his stake in Crystal Palace and Lyon’s hugely successful women’s side.

Lyon relegated to Ligue 2

However, as the DNCG has now announced, these ‘levers’ have not been enough to put the club in a secure financial position, and the decision to relegate them to Ligue 2 has been upheld.

L’Equipe has described the DNCG’s decision as a ‘thunderbolt in French football,’ although all is not lost for Lyon just yet. Textor and company can still appeal the ruling.

The American businessman recently expressed his confidence that the DNCG would judge in Lyon’s favour at today’s meeting. “You can see from the contributions of our shareholders, we have invested new capital, not only for the DNCG, but also for our UEFA licensing process.

“Not to mention the good news of the sale of Crystal Palace. Our liquidity situation has improved considerably,” Textor said after Botafogo beat PSG at the Club World Cup last week.

Back in May, Textor claimed that Lyon were ‘fine’ in a social media video that has now aged poorly. “Don’t worry, we have money. We’re spending it. Stop reading the press, you don’t have to worry.

“We’re not going to be relegated, we have the money. It’s the press that wants to hurt us. Obviously, we’re going through a bad time in France, but I put in €293m, and you think I’m going to give up because they are asking me for €50m? We’re fine.”

The DNCG’s decision will have major consequences for Lyon’s current players as several of them will likely jump ship. Winger Malick Fofana, among the club’s most valuable assets following the sale of Cherki, is known to be fielding interest from the Premier League.

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