Lyon put under financial sanctions as OL Reign sale remains incomplete
New OL CEO confident sale will be finished “quickly”.
News on the planned sale of OL Reign by Eagle Football Holdings continues to trickle out, but with little progress being made so far in completing the transaction. The latest comes via an interview by new OL CEO Santiago Cucci, who was just appointed to the position following the recent departure of Jean-Michel Aulas. Cucci confirmed that the sale is not yet complete but that multiple buyers are interested.
In an interview with RMC Sport, Cucci discussed his first planned moves as new club CEO, including reaction to the decision by the DNCG (French football’s financial governing authority) to sanction Lyon and put them under surveillance after the club failed to meet the financial obligations promised by new owner John Textor when he took over the club earlier this year. That financial hole came about in significant part due to the men’s side failing to qualify for European competition. This sanction should not have any direct impact on OL Reign, whose budget is already set for the year and whose player salaries are paid by the NWSL as part of their single-entity structure.
Some of those financial obligations were recently met through a cash infusion following the reorganization of the women’s side as a separate entity under the leadership of Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang. The remainder was to be addressed through the sale of OL Reign, which is legally required as part of Kang’s involvement with Lyon. However, since the sale is not yet completed the DNCG was dissatisfied with OL’s current finances and opted to put them under sanction.
Cucci noted that there is a floor on the Reign sale of $53 million, which is directly tied to the price that new expansion club Bay FC paid to join the NWSL starting next season. That coincidentally happens to also be the approximate amount that Textor is in arrears on OL’s finances. Cucci feels that despite the drawn-out process, the sale will happen “quickly” and should satisfy the DNCG enough to lift the sanctions.