French giants Olympique Lyonnais have been relegated to Ligue 2 due to the poor state of their finances, despite finishing sixth in the 2024/25 season.

Olympique Lyonnais have been relegated to Ligue 2 due to financial difficulties, but the club has stated that it will appeal the decision.

In November 2024, the seven-time Ligue 1 champions were provisionally demoted after announcing debts of £422 million (approximately KSh 74 billion).

The DNGC, the body which oversees the accounts of French professional football clubs, confirmed the decision to relegate them following a meeting with club owner John Textor, who is also the largest shareholder at Botafogo.

Rayan Cherki's move to Manchester City is the latest sale, and Lyon will need to sell more players in the coming months to improve their financial situation. They also sold Said Benrahma, Anthony Lopes and Maxence Caqueret after their

"Olympique Lyonnais acknowledges the incomprehensible decision handed down by the DNCG this evening and confirms that it will immediately appeal," Lyon's statement read.

"Over the past few months, we have worked closely with the DNCG, meeting all of its demands with equity investments in excess of the amounts requested. Thanks to equity contributions from our shareholders and the sale of Crystal Palace, our cash position has improved significantly, and we have more than sufficient resources for the 2025/26 season.

If the decision is upheld, they will be replaced by Reims, who were relegated after an 18th-place finish.

Olympique Lyon dominated French football in the 2000s, winning seven consecutive titles between 2002 and 2008. However, they have not won another league title since.

Olympique Marseille, Lille, and Montpellier won the next three before Paris Saint-Germain's dominance started. They won their first title since the Qatari-backed takeover in 2012/13.

Since then, they have won every league title except Monaco (2016/17) and Lille (2020/21). Lyon fell back after PSG's dominance began and have never gotten close.

In Europe, they recently got to the quarter-finals of the Europa League this past season but lost to Manchester United. In 2020, they reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.

@MinaFootball:

"This is actually really sad. €508m in debt, Textor sold the womens club to make some quick €€ but ultimately years of mismanagement from others including Textor lead to this moment. A historic club in Europe who dominated French football in the 2000s. Sad."

@MooreRMFC:

"Everyone getting punished except City, they’ll rather deduct points from Everton."

@KPmufc:

"Really depressing that people see this and their first thought is 'Who can we take from Lyon?'"

Earlier, reported that former Lyon star Rayan Cherki fired a warning atbManchester United after signing for Manchester City.

The attacker revisited the Europa League quarter-final, which his Lyon side lost 7-6 on aggregate after a second leg collapse.

Cherki was on target in the second leg, and his team was leading 4-2 in extra time before a monumental collapse saw them lose 5-4.

Source: TUKO.co.ke