Olympique Lyon has been in chaos since John Textor bought the club six months ago. Image: picture alliance / DPPI media
More and more investors from abroad are pushing into French football. The fresh money allows big dreams to mature. But not infrequently the hoped-for success does not materialize. It’s particularly bad in Lyon.
The American owners of Chelsea FC took over the traditional French football club Racing Strasbourg last week. The “BlueCo consortium” signed a contract to enter the table fifteenth of the past Ligue 1 season. A deal that makes those responsible in Strasbourg happy. “This is an important day for Racing,” said President Marc Keller, who is to keep his post. “We have built a club that is healthy and well-managed at all levels, but now we aim to move on to the next stage.”
In the future, racing should no longer have anything to do with the relegation battle, the club would rather orient itself towards the first third of the table. “We also want to sign a player for 10 or 15 million euros, which would never have been possible without this takeover,” said the former Karlsruhe striker. On the other hand, Chelsea are “not planning to loan several players to the French. We don’t intend to do that.”