As the 2026 World Cup enters its final week, fans are waiting to see whether football will come home this time — or whether it will be another four-year wait. Meanwhile, we’ve looked beyond the pitch at the game’s financial issues. Here, too, is a story of towering ambitions and perfervid emotions — one whose fate is intertwined less with 90-minute scores and penalty kicks than with buccaneering businesspeople and vast sums of borrowed money.
Take just the most recent example. In late June, seven-time French Ligue 1-winner Olympique Lyonnais was taken over by shareholder and American businesswoman Michelle Kang, after an agreement with main lender Ares.
Back in 2022 Ares had funded American businessman John Textor’s takeover of OL with $425m in mezzanine debt to his Eagle Football Group across three first-ranking senior secured tranches.
Lenders were not satisfied with Textor’s handling of the club’s finances. OL was relegated from Ligue 1 last year for financial reasons, but won an appeal to remain in the league after a new board took over, with Kang as president. Relegation would have reduced lenders’ chances of recovery, and Ares did not want that outcome to materialise.
When Textor attempted to...
