OL: an alarming financial situation and a similar fate to the Girondins de Bordeaux ? Possible sanctions

The Lyon club faces à serious financial difficulties and could suffer sanctions.

Big concern for Olympique Lyonnais. The club will have to pass a major oral examination in front of the DNCG this Friday while the accounts of John Textor's club are still in the red. An alarming situation for the Gones club after the publication of the figures Eagle Football Group, formerly OL Groupe, which published its accounts for the 2023-2024 season. In detail, as of June 30, i.e. at the end of the 2023-2024 season, Eagle Football Group recorded a deficit of 25.7 million euros and yet, the payroll has increased… The group posted its desire to “implement a plan to rationalize its operating costs” and the opening of discussions for a possible “voluntary departure plan”.

“It's not a surprise. The numbers are stubborn, it's necessarily worrying. The situation was already worrying even before John Textor took over the club. He put a lot of money into the buyout and more into the sporting side. “That created a negative spiral. We entered a vicious circle,” explained on RMC Sport Vincent Chaudel director of the Observatoire du Sport Business.

A destiny à la Bordeaux ?

For the moment, nothing is certain and Lyon will have to give guarantees to the DNCG. According to the information, “contributions of €75 million by the end of December 2024 in the form of equity and/or proceeds from the sale of players held by clubs in the Eagle Football Holdings group” are announced. There will also be “a contribution of up to €100 million at the beginning of 2025 from Eagle Football Holdings” and the “completion of player transfers during the January 2025 transfer window”. A Bordeaux-like fate could still be avoided thanks to the assets surrounding the club, particularly the Groupama Stadium. Lyon still risks sanctions, the “lightest” concerns the supervision of recruitment and the payroll and could go as far as relegation as a precautionary measure, if the money is not found. by the end of the season.