John Textor and Botafogo have announced they will ‘soon’ take legal proceedings against Lyon.
In a press release the Brasileiro side said they have ‘already taken legal action against Eagle Holdings and will take legal action against OL to recover the sums owed to it’.
The complaint concerns alleged phantom transfers in July 2024 from Botafogo to Olympique Lyonnais.
Brazilians Luiz Henrique and Igor Jesus, among others, were announced as joining OL, a club Textor managed from May 2023 to June 2025, but ultimately ended up at Zenit Saint Petersburg and Nottingham Forest, respectively.
These two transfers were never registered by the LFP, as detailed by L’Équipe, in December 2025.
For his part, Textor now maintains that the Brazilian club financed Lyon’s losses.
Textor is the founder and former chair of Eagle Holdings, having been officially ousted in February.
Before that he was Lyon president, but again lost his role after the club were administratively relegated under his leadership.
Textor was also majority owner at Premier League side Crystal Palace, but also sold his shares after Palace had their Europa League spot blocked by multi-club ownership rules with OL.
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