Olympique Lyon has avoided forced relegation. But that’s far from the end of its problems. The club faces tough times ahead, starting this summer.
Olympique Lyon has avoided disaster and will continue to play in Ligue 1 in 2025/26. The successful appeal against the forced relegation imposed at the end of June, which was now overturned on Wednesday, is a huge relief for the financially stricken club, which can now count on higher revenues from the league and the Europa League in the coming season.
However, this is far from a solution to all the problems. The appeals committee only approved OL’s continued participation in the league on condition that the budget allocated to the club for salaries and transfers in the coming season is severely restricted. The new management team, consisting of president Michele Kang and CEO Michael Gerlinger, must implement radical savings, especially in the professional team, even though Gerlinger emphasized on Wednesday evening that this was “not a course of austerity, but a course of financial discipline.”
The first lever for this course is the sale of players. Even before the first hearing in June, the club’s management had submitted a list of players to the commission who could be sold this summer, potentially bringing around €100 million into the empty coffers. These include veterans such as Nemanja Matic, Duje Caleta-Car, and Jordan Veretout, but also key players such as top talent Malick Fofana and goalkeeper Lucas Perri.
The problem is that every potential buyer is aware of OL’s financial difficulties, so the club is not in a strong negotiating position – even if remaining in Ligue 1 and the Europa League will at least alleviate the immediate need for a complete sell-off thanks to the additional income.
Striker Georges Mikautadze and midfielder Thiago Almada were not on the transfer list, but are said to be attracting interest – although the Almada case is complicated: the Argentine was officially on loan from Brazilian club Botafogo – another club owned by John Textor, who has since stepped down as Lyon’s majority shareholder. He was supposed to be signed permanently after his loan spell, but the goings-on in Textor’s Eagle Football cosmos are difficult to fathom. Almada’s future – and Lyon’s opportunity to cash in on him – is therefore unclear.
Despite sell-off: Lyon wants to “play in Europe”
Regardless, according to French media, Lyon wants to make huge cuts to player salaries. Two years ago, OL paid its players around €160 million per year – the second-highest amount in Ligue 1 – but in future, only €60 million per year will be paid out. The aim is to impose a self-imposed salary cap: players will now earn a maximum of €200,000 gross per month, which virtually rules out any new high-profile signings. At least the contracts of the two big earners, Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas Tagliafico, have expired anyway, and both players are leaving the club.
Kang and Gerlinger now face the difficult task of building a strong team despite the impending sell-off and significantly lower salary levels, so that the club does not face sporting relegation as well as financial relegation. Gerlinger himself was combative: “We want to play in Europe again next season.”
