NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Lyon has been allowed to play on in the Europa League after the U.S.-owned French club met a deadline to avoid disqualification, UEFA said on Monday.
Lyon showed its finances were healthy enough to finish the season to UEFA's club finance monitoring panel.
The financial statements in December “failed to comply with the core underlying principle of going concern,” UEFA said. Lyon reported debts of more than 500 million euros ($500 million) last year, and in November was threatened with relegation to the French second tier by the national soccer watchdog.
The club owned by American businessman John Textor faced being axed from the Europa League unless it met a Jan. 30 deadline set by the UEFA-appointed panel to file a clean review from auditors.
On that same date, last Thursday, Lyon drew at home with Ludogorets Razgrad 1-1 to confirm a top-eight finish in the 36-team Europa League standings. That earned a place in the knockout round of 16 and an extra 1.75 million euros ($1.8 million) in prize money from UEFA.
Lyon “has taken the necessary actions and has fulfilled the condition imposed by the (Club Finance Control Body) within the set deadline,” UEFA said on Monday, confirming the “conditional disqualification will not take effect.”
The UEFA monitoring panel, chaired by Columbia University economics lecturer Sunil Gulati, evaluates accounts of all clubs that qualify for European competitions in a system once known as Financial Fair Play.
Lyon will be included in the round of 16 draw on Feb. 21. In January, the club raised tens of million of euros (dollars) from player sales in the midseason trading window.
Textor has owned Lyon for two years and been consistently critical of financial regulations in French and European soccer. His stakes in other clubs include Botafogo, the champion of South America from Brazil, and Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
Lyon won seven straight titles through 2008 as the dominant team in France before Qatar-backed Paris Saint-Germain took over, winning 10 in the past 12 years.
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The Associated Press
