relegated

French club Lyon have been demoted to Ligue 2 because of the poor state of their finances.

The club were provisionally demoted by the DNGC, the body which oversees the accounts of French professional football clubs, in November.

Lyon officials including owner John Textor, met with the DNGC on Tuesday but failed to convince the body that the club had sufficiently improved their financial situation to lift the punishment.

Last October, his Eagle Football Group announced debts of £422m.

Seven-time French champions Lyon raised around £45m with the sales of Maxence Caqueret to Como in January and Rayan Cherki to Manchester City in June in an attempt to improve their finances.

High earners such as Alexandre Lacazette and Anthony Lopes have also been released.

Lyon have the right to appeal against the decision. Should it stand, Lyon will be replaced in the top flight by Reims, who were beaten in the relegation play-off by Metz.

Textor is also the largest shareholder of Brazilian club Botafogo and co-owner of Premier League club Crystal Palace, though he agreed a deal to sell his 46% stake in the Eagles on Monday.

Palace qualified for the Europa League by winning the FA Cup but their place is in doubt because Lyon also qualified by finishing sixth in Ligue 1.

Textor’s perceived involvement with both clubs could be in breach Uefa rules, which prevent multiple teams under one multi-club ownership structure competing in the same European competition.

The Eagles hope Textor’s decision to sell his stake to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson will avoid that scenario.

The month before Sampdoria’s play-off exit Pirlo was called “a key part of the project” by the club’s owners, but three games into the current campaign he was dismissed following two defeats and a draw.

Andrea Sottil replaced him and oversaw a Coppa Italia penalty-shootout victory against Genoa in the first Derby della Lanterna in two years.

However, he too was jettisoned in October 2024 after just four wins in 14 games and replaced by Leonardo Semplici.

With the club in the drop zone, a 3-0 home defeat by Frosinone at the end of March was the tipping point for the fans as patience with Semplici ran out.

The team bus carrying Semplici and his Sampdoria players was pelted by stones and flares by angry supporters after the match at the Luigi Ferraris Stadium.

Semplici was relieved of his duties in April with Alberico Evani – the club’s fourth coach of the season – tasked with keeping them up.

Things began promisingly for Evani with club legend Attilio Lombardo in as assistant and another Sampdoria icon in Roberto Mancini helping in an unofficial capacity.

Evani began with a 1-0 win over fellow strugglers Cittadella, but three draws, a defeat and just one win since then have not been enough to keep them up.