Sixth in Ligue 1 before the reception of Stade Rennais, Olympique Lyonnais plays much more than a simple match this weekend at Groupama Stadium. Players must impose themselves, not only to stay in the race for the podium and the Champions League, but also to avoid heavy financial consequences.
Since the cruel elimination against Manchester United in the Europa League, Lyon supporters live a high -tension end of the season. A new underperformance against Rennes would almost definitively distance OL from the Top 3, thus compromising a qualification in the Crucial Champions League for the future of the club.
Beyond the sporting failure, it is the economic balance of Olympique Lyonnais which is at stake. Placed under surveillance of the DNCG, the financial control body of French football, the club chaired by John Textor risk in the event of non-qualification. The club accounts are in red, and the solutions to fill the deficit are slow to materialize.
“OL needs money very quickly”
According to Florent Bergmann, in charge of economic studies at CDES Limoges and member of the DNCG for amateur football, the situation is critical. Questioned by France TV Info, he confirms:
“Does OL need the Champions League to save itself financially?” Yes, it looks like it, and it is a notice shared by the auditors. OL needs money very quickly and C1 would be a good solution ”.
With a net profit of -117 million euros on the last financial year, without surplus on previous years, the alert is serious. “The net results are constantly negative, with products lower than the charges. This requires regular contributions to compensate “he continues. For Lyon, a victory against Rennes is therefore much more than a matter of classification.
