Last week, the ICFC (the Club Financial Control Authority) came to Lyon for an audit of the accounts of Olympique Lyonnais. An update on this eminently complex issue at a time when OL's concerns are causing a lot of talk.
It is not linked to the DNCG
This is the first point to note and it is important. No, the presence of the financial policeman of European Football was not linked to the sanction pronounced by the French DNCG of a ban on recruitment coupled with a payroll control and administrative relegation as a precautionary measure. Because OL was returning to the European Cup this season with the added bonus of a new investor, the Financial Fair Play (FPF) audit was a “necessary step”. OL was also notified this summer of the visit scheduled for November by UEFA investigators.
OL will not take any sanctions in 2023-24
This is the other main rule of UEFA concerning its financial fair play: sanctions never fall during the competition. Regardless of the club that participates in its competitions, the European body always makes sure to take the time to analyze it to decide. So everything is still happening in the second season. Engaged in the Europa League for the current financial year, Olympique Lyonnais will not be worried until the end of this season… and will not be amended along the way either.
Yes, OL is “sanctionable”
What is almost certain, however, is that OL will be sanctioned. If the ICFC does not operate like the DNCG by relying on predictions or on financial debts (the €505 million in the Eagle Football Groupe accounting report is not part of the direct calculation because clubs are much more indebted and never worried!), it judges on the other hand on facts: all salaries must be paid and transfer debts honored, this is the basis. The other point is that UEFA wants to ensure a virtuous operating model over three consecutive seasons. It is therefore necessary to be able to ensure a maximum authorized deficit of €60 million over the period (€90 million if structural investments of a club in good financial health). On the first point, OL are in compliance today, given that the late payment for Georges Mikautadze to Metz has been paid. On the other hand, as far as the authorized deficit is concerned, we are very far from it. -55 M€ in 2022, -99 M€ in 2023 and -25.7 M€ in 2024… Unless we imagine a 2024-25 season which ends with a positive net result of 60 M€, there will be a sanction .
Real risks if OL are European next year
UEFA now has a range of sanctions ranging from a simple warning to exclusion. Sanctions which will apply from the summer of 2025 if OL is European. It's difficult to know where Lyon will be on the risk scale. This will depend on the final ranking in Ligue 1 already, on whether or not the club honors all the commitments made by John Textor but also on whether it stays the course in repaying its debts. In the best case scenario, we must expect “support” over three years in UEFA style: either a fine in the form of a deduction from hypothetical European gains for 2025-26 as well as a limitation on the number of players “ qualifying” in the European Cup (from 25 to 21). In the most extreme case, OL can be deprived of all European competitions for a season as was the case with Galatasaray in 2017-18 or even Juventus Turin in 2023-24.
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