Olympic Lyonnais Demotion and Similarities To Manchester City 115 Charges
Jean-Michel Aulas took over the reins of Olympique Lyonnais on June 15, 1987, with the club languishing in debt. In the second tier of French Football, the businessman dramatically transformed the club’s fortunes for the next two decades.
With his ambitious ‘OL-Europe’, Lyon—free of debts—became a financially powerful club over the next few years, culminating in its first league title in 2002 and subsequent dominance, winning the Ligue 1 in seven consecutive seasons.
Aulas’ handing over selling majority of his stake at the club to American businessman John Textor in December 2022 to date is seen by many as the beginning of the end for Lyon.
What Went Wrong For Lyon?
The French Ligue 1 and the rest of Europe were left shocked by the news of the demotion of one of France’s most celebrated teams in the last twenty years despite reassurances by the club’s leadership in November last year that it would abide by the financial requirements set by the DNGC.
The DNGC is the watchdog in French professional football, saddled with the responsibility of ensuring clubs are financially healthy, and its president, Jean-Marc Mickeler, mandated Lyon to basically ‘fix-up’ or be ready to face the consequences when both parties met in November last year.
Also Read: Lyon Relegated to French Ligue 2 Over Financial Troubles
John Textor promptly agreed to address the financial mismanagement by releasing players on huge wages( Lacazette and co), generating more funds with player sales( Ryan Cherki, Caqueret), and most recently, announcing the sale of his 43% share in Crystal Palace.
Lyon described the DNGC’s decision to relegate the club as ‘incomprehensible’ and plans to appeal because they believe they have done more than enough to overturn the situation since the last meeting in November last year.
Why Manchester City is different from the Lyon Scenario
Some have accused the DNGC of being overzealous while carrying out its responsibility, as nearly half(80) of the entire football clubs in France suffer one sanction or another as the body targets financial mismanagement in any form.
Bordeaux were relegated to the fourth tier of French football just last season, and the whole Lyon Saga has taken not more than a couple of months to come to this conclusion from the meeting to the transfer ban and now the relegation.
Which makes you wonder why the 115 charges against Manchester City have still not been concluded despite dragging on since 2023, when the Premier League charged Manchester City with breaking financial fair play rules over nine years.
The Manchester City case is treated differently from the Lyon situation because unlike the Manchester City scenario, the DNGC in France believe Lyon will default on its over 420 million pound debt, especially with the absence of Champions League finance, the DNGC believed the structure and reputation of the ligue 1 would be hurt beyond irreparable doubt with the presence of Lyon and so took the decision in terms best interest of the league.
In Manchester City’s case, it’s the Premier League against the club, with both parties represented by lawyers at an independent panel that heard the case at the International Dispute Resolution Centre near St Paul’s in London for a dozen weeks between mid-September and early December.
More Punishment?
The DNGC is not done. Its microscope will probe more deeply into the financial details of several Ligue 1 clubs ahead of the start of the new league season, demanding clubs exclude the Speculative culture of projected player sales and TV rights deals. The Ligue is still grappling with a potential broadcast rights deal.
This could mean clubs like Reims who posted approximately 36.9 million euros in pre-sales losses, and another 20 million euros (projected TV rights deal) could plunge the club into over 50 million euros in debt.
Lyon Appeal
Olympic Lyonnais remain defiant; they have complied with the DNGC requirement and will appeal the decision.
An appeal will certainly drag on for months and could possibly head to international courts, which could plunge the league into more uncertainties as Reims wait in the wings to be reinstated into Ligue 1 after losing the playoff.
Lyon also qualified for the Europa League, but it is not exactly known what happens to its slot following expulsion to the lower division, and if the club would be financially willing to combine in continental engagement with Ligue 2 football.
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