By Michael Nsikan Richard — December 3rd, 2025
The numbers coming out of Olympique Lyonnais are nothing short of catastrophic.
SportCal reports that Eagle Football Group dropped a bombshell on November 29, 2024, revealing that the French club had sustained a net loss of €201.2 million during the 2024-25 financial year—the worst financial result in the club’s modern era.
To put this in perspective, they had only lost €25.7 million in the previous season. We’re talking about an eightfold spike in losses within just 12 months, signifying a dramatic deterioration from the previous season.
Revenue Collapse
What’s driving this financial meltdown?? According to SportCal and Inside World Football, it stems primarily from a severe revenue crisis. i.e., a storm of collapsing revenues.
The club’s total income tumbled to €273.7 million—a 24% drop compared to the year before. Things look even grimmer when you strip out transfer-related money: non-transfer revenue crashed to €162.6 million, down 38% from the previous season.
But here’s where it really hurts: media and broadcasting rights.
This revenue stream, once a lifeline for the club, brought in just €45.7 million—down from €95.4 million the year before. That’s basically a 50% haircut. The culprit?? The ongoing broadcast rights mess in Ligue 1 has been negatively impacting French football’s finances for several months now. The league simply hasn’t been able to nail down the kind of lucrative TV deals that clubs depend on, forcing everyone to operate on dramatically reduced media income.
And there’s no relief in sight.
Lyon has already cautioned that things will get worse before they get better.
All Ligue 1 matches now stream through the league’s own platform rather than primarily through DAZN, which means media rights revenue is expected to sink even lower during the 2025-26 season.
Escalating Costs
Orange Sports reveals another painful reality: while money coming in dried up, money going out kept climbing. The club’s personnel costs hit €177.7 million for the year ending June 30, 2025—up from €161.9 million 12 months earlier.
Why?? Lyon went on a spending spree during the summer 2024 transfer window, throwing money at big-name signings in a desperate attempt to rebuild their competitive edge.
The operating loss tells the full story: negative €150.7 million, compared to a positive €26.5 million the year before. That figure includes a roughly €40 million jump in player amortization costs and a €12.5 million hit from a settlement agreement the club signed with UEFA back in June 2025.
Meanwhile, the club’s EBITDA plunged to minus €47.7 million from a positive €44.2 million the previous year. That’s nearly a €92 million swing in operational performance—and not in a good direction.
The DNCG Sanctions & Near-Relegation
Here’s how serious things got: Lyon almost faced administrative relegation.
Back in November 2024, France’s financial watchdog—the Direction Nationale du Controle de Gestion (DNCG)—actually ordered Lyon’s provisional demotion to Ligue 2 for the 2025-26 season. Their reasoning? The club’s shaky financial position and a jaw-dropping debt burden hover around €500 million. The DNCG didn’t stop there, slapping the club with a recruitment freeze and salary cap as emergency measures.
Fortunately for Lyon supporters, this decision was overturned on appeal in July, allowing the club to stay in Ligue 1. But don’t mistake this for a happy ending—Lyon remains under intense financial scrutiny and needs to prove they can chart a course back to sustainability or risk facing sanctions all over again.
Leadership Changes
The crisis sparked a management shakeup. John Textor, the controversial American businessman who controls 77% of Lyon through his Eagle Football Group, pulled back from running day-to-day operations in July 2024. Michelle Kang, a minority investor who owns 52% of the associated women’s team OL Feminines, stepped into the president’s role to help navigate the club through these crises.
Current Situation & Future Outlook
Think about what Lyon used to be: 7 consecutive league titles in the 2000s, one of Europe’s most respected academies, regular Champions League campaigns, and financial muscle that made other clubs jealous. Now look at where they are. It’s a staggering fall from grace.
On the field, Lyon managed a 6th-place finish in Ligue 1 for the 2024-25 season, which at least secured them a spot in the UEFA Europa League, where they’re currently competing. But the road ahead looks treacherous. The club needs to somehow balance investing enough to stay competitive while simultaneously digging themselves out of a massive financial hole—all while domestic broadcast revenues keep shrinking.
Lyon’s predicament isn’t just their problem, though. It exposes the structural cracks running through French football, showing how even historically successful clubs with loyal fanbases and solid infrastructure can suddenly find themselves fighting for survival when the league’s economic foundation starts crumbling. Lyon’s crisis should serve as a wake-up call about what happens when ambitious sporting plans crash headlong into disappearing revenue streams and inadequate financial planning.
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