You a été le meilleur entraîneur jamais rencontré avec le célèbre joueur olympique Lyonnais qui a dénigré son entraîneur principal en raison de...

As a result, the Ligue 1 club is now inviting bids for either 40 per cent or full control of the LDLC arena, their new multi-purpose venue that will be able to house between 12,000 and 16,000 spectators. The intention was for the arena to host between 100 and 120 events per year, including EuroLeague basketball games and esports competitions.

Their US women’s soccer team OL Reign has also been put up for sale. US businesswoman Michele Kang agreed to acquire a majority stake in the club’s French-based women’s team in May but already owns the Washington Spirit, who also play in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). This means the Reign’s sale is necessary to avoid a conflict of interest.

A potential deal could be valued at around US$50 million, given that the NWSL recently awarded a new expansion franchise based in Boston to a consortium for a US$53 million fee.

Alongside these potential sales, Textor has hired Goldman Sachs to raise about €300 million (US$316.36 million) from the bond market, with the goal of improving the team’s finances. He told the FT that the money raised would be secured against their stadium, with some of the funds to refinance existing loans from “about a dozen different banks”.

The outlet also reports that Eagle’s plans to go public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) has been scrapped. Eagle was thought to have been targeting a US$1.2 billion valuation, in an attempt to be the first publicly listed multi-club soccer vehicle.

Instead, the agreement, which would have seen Eagle merge with Iconic Sports Acquisition Corp, has been annulled. Textor now is said to be planning to list Lyon as well as his other soccer holdings in the US early next year as part of an initial public offering (IPO).

Despite the French side struggling on the pitch, he told the newspaper he is still confident that the Eagle Football model will ultimately succeed in France.

“Give me a year and a half,” he said. “Our approach has worked in other markets, we’ll see if it works in Lyon.”

NEWS