Lyon announced in an official statement that the National Directorate for Administrative Control, the French football’s financial regulator, has accepted the club’s appeal against its administrative relegation to Ligue 2.
The relegation decision was issued two weeks ago against Lyon due to accumulated debts. This was the second time the directorate had decided to do so due to the club’s difficult economic situation, which forced it to sell several players, most recently Rayan Cherki.
Michèle Kang, who replaced Jean Textor as president of Lyon, and the club’s CEO, Michael Gerlinger, met with the directorate’s appeal committee on Wednesday in Paris. Their presentation appears to have convinced the committee members, who have now overturned the previous decision to send “Lee Jun” to Ligue 2.
However, Lyon is not out of the woodwork yet. The appeal committee has imposed further restrictions on the club’s wage bill and transfer budget.
The good news for Lyon is that this arrangement will also see the club participate in the Europa League next season, after finishing sixth in Ligue 1 last season.
UEFA had previously announced that it had agreed with Lyon to exempt them from participating in the Europa League if relegation to Ligue 2 was confirmed. However, now the French giants will participate without any problems, putting Crystal Palace in an embarrassing position.
Lyon is owned by the same owner as Crystal Palace, John Textor, but he recently sold his stake in the English club so that both clubs could participate in the Europa League—due to UEFA’s prohibition on two clubs with the same ownership from participating in the same competition. However, the Premier League has not yet approved the sale.
