Lens or Brest could replace Lyon in European competition | OneFootball

With the club’s dire financial situation, Olympique Lyonnais are currently at risk of exclusion from European competition next season. The club, as per L’Équipe, could come to a “negotiated agreement” with UEFA that would see OL potentially sanctioned but at least permitted to compete in next season’s European competitions.

The threat comes amid growing debt at Lyon. The situation is also of concern to the DNCG, French football’s financial watchdog, who handed the club a provisional administrative relegation to Ligue 2 earlier this season. OL must convince the watchdog to remove that threat later this month.

However, relegation to Ligue 2 would not in and of itself prevent Lyon from competing in European competition. Whilst UEFA Champions League qualification is a long shot, qualification for the Europa League is very feasible and, should Stade de Reims lose the Coupe de France final against Paris Saint-Germain, as expected, qualification for the Europa Conference League would be secured through a seventh-place finish, already mathematically assured.

But if OL were banned from European competition next season, RC Lens or Stade Brestois would replace them as the place would be given to the next best-ranked team. Currently, Brest are eighth and Lens ninth. For the two teams, there is therefore potentially something to play for on the final day of the season.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle