John Textor was confident ahead of his club’s appearance before the DNCG. But on Friday, the DNCG delivered its verdict on OL’s case. The Rhone-based club is “demoted as a precautionary measure at the end of the current season”.. In other words, Lyon will be “demoted if its financial situation does not improve”.. On top of this, OL is banned from recruiting this winter, and the wage bill must be kept under control.

The American owner’s arguments were therefore not heard by the financial watchdog. As a reminder, John Textor was questioned for several hours on Friday, as was Laurent Prud’homme, the club’s general manager. In a press release a few days ago, Lyon presented a debt in excess of 500 million euros.

However, the club’s American owner, John Textor, had assured us on Friday afternoon that he was not “at all worried about the club’s future”. of the company that oversees Olympique Lyonnais, after his hearing in Paris. “I’m confident in our figures”, “we’ll be bringing in several hundred million in cash over the next few months”according to statements sent to AFP by the club.

The businessman, who bought OL from Jean-Michel Aulas in 2023, assured us that the LFP body had looked into the matter. “the complete image” of parent company Eagle Football Holdings, which also owns Botafogo in Brazil and Molenbeek in Belgium. Last week, its French branch published profit and loss accounts that left fans in doubt. Despite a reduction in net losses, Eagle Football Group’s net cash position remains at 463.8 million euros.

“Pressures”

To pay them off, the company is counting on income from Botafogo and Molenbeek in particular, but, believing that it does not have sufficient information to judge the nature of this income, it has been forced to take action. “reasonable of these assumptions, the statutory auditors have indicated that they may not certify the financial statements. “The local auditors only looked at the French soccer club and did not consider the hundreds of millions of dollars that will come from different parts of our organization.”John Textor lamented. “We’re not at all worried about our future.”.

To reassure Lyon fans, the American also assured them that the club would not be giving up its best players, as his “goal is to be selected in the Champions League this year”.. “We earn around 90 million euros a year from the sale of players”.he said. “It will continue but don’t worry, it won’t be your favorite player, the best player, if we don’t have someone to replace him and play even better.”.

“I’m confident in our numbers, but I’m never confident in how a regulatory body sees things.”he acknowledged, referring to “pressure” from his “enemies” including “a big club linked to Qatar”. In July 2023, the DNCG had already imposed restrictions on payroll and transfer fees. This situation forced the Rhone club to carry out a summer recruitment drive, which was carried out on the cheap and ultimately failed.