Welcome to issue #023 of Contemporary Football, your inside look at how the game really works behind the scenes.
Monday to Friday, you’ll uncover a new perspective on football business, and sometimes a deeper story that sharpens your thinking and gives you an edge in the beautiful game.
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Hey everyone,
Olympique Lyonnais (“OL”) was once a dominant team.
The club won seven consecutive French Ligue 1 titles in the early 2000s.
Do you remember Juninho Pernambucano’s free kicks?
Today, we chat about the recent OL: their strategy, identity… and the cost of reinvention.
–€201 million
Lyon closed the 2024/25 financial year with a record loss of €201.2 million.
Eight times worse than the previous season.
When you see a number like that, you think “crisis”.
But the truth is more nuanced.
A big part of this comes from:
the absence of extraordinary revenue they had in 2023/24
the increase in wage costs
a €12.5 million UEFA settlement
and a club that is trying to rebuild itself faster than it can pay for the reconstruction
Lyon is not dying.
Lyon is transforming… but transformations are expensive.
Revenue: down on paper, up in reality
Total revenue dropped from €361.4m to €273.7m.
Looks terrible.
But if we remove the “one-off” €100m+ they had the year before,
Lyon actually grew by 5%
And the details show a club that still knows how to operate:
Matchday: €42.8m (+26%) thanks to Europa League
TV + LFP/UEFA money: €45.7m (–52%)
Sponsorship: €30.9m (–17%)
Merch: €24.4m (–55%)
It’s unstable, yes.
But not hopeless.
And then there’s the part of Lyon’s business that remains elite…
Player trading: still world-class
OL made €111.1m from player sales.
With €71.2m in pure profit.
That’s OL’s DNA.
It has been for 20 years.
Even in the worst financial moment of the club’s modern history,
they continue to produce and sell top talent.
It’s the engine that keeps them alive.
The real problem: costs exploded
Here’s where everything breaks:
Wage bill: €177.7m (+10%)
Amortisation: up from €56.2m to €91.1m
More spending.
More signings.
More commitments.
At the worst possible time.
EBITDA went from +€44.2m to –€47.7m.
That’s the moment where a club goes:
“We need to change direction immediately.”
And that’s exactly what they did this summer.
Summer 2025: OL hits the brakes
Lyon decided to cut costs everywhere.
Fast.
And with painful precision.
Big sales:
Cherki → Man City (€31.4m)
Benrahma → Neom SC (€11.1m)
Perri → Leeds (€13m)
Mikautadze → Villarreal (€22.6m)
Cheaper arrivals:
Morton (€10m)
Turner (€8.3m)
Sulc (€8m)
The debt issue
This is the worrying part.
€206.5m in current liabilities
Net debt: from €463.8m to €576.6m
Liquidity pressure
Payment delays
Exposure linked to other Eagle Football assets (hello Botafogo)
OL is not just fighting its own battles.
It’s fighting the battles of the ownership group.
This complicates everything.
So… what is OL actually doing?
If I had to summarise their strategy in one line:
They’re trying to rebuild a Champions League club… without Champions League revenue.
It’s bold.
It’s risky.
The managerial style is clear:
Spend early
Build a stronger squad
Raise long-term value
Bet on returning to European competitions
Use player trading to support the model
Adjust heavily when numbers go red
It’s ambitious.
But ambition has a price.
And OL is paying it right now.
What they need next
For Lyon to get back to stability, three things must happen:
European qualification
The difference between Lyon in or out of Europe is €30–50m per year.Debt restructuring
They need breathing room, not more pressure.A stable wage bill
If the 40% cut becomes reality, they can breathe again.
The positive sign?
First quarter of 2025/26 already shows +7% revenue growth.
Small, but important.
My take
OL is not lost.
But they’re in deep water.
You can see the outline of a good project…
young talent, smart sales, a big stadium, a clear ambition…
But the financial structure is too fragile.
If they pull it off, it will be one of the best turnarounds in Europe.
If they don’t, the debt will swallow the project before it matures.
This season will tell us everything.
Au revoir,
Federico