Lyon said Textor's Eagle Football Holdings vehicle was in talks over buying the majority stake held by club president Jean-Michel Aulas.

Textor (56) already owns a stake in Premier League side Crystal Palace. Alongside that co-ownership he has a majority stake in Botafogo, a Brazilian club in Rio de Janeiro, who play their football in the top division, Serie A. He purchased the 90% stake back in January after the Rio club had suffered multiple financial issues over the last decade. In the same week, he also bought an 80% stake in Belgian club RWD Molenbeek.

Lyon won seven consecutive Ligue 1 titles from the 2001-2002 season but have struggled to compete in recent years, with big-spending Paris Saint-Germain, who are owned by the state-run Qatar Sports Investments, dominating French football.

Soccer clubs have attracted billionaires and oligarchs from around the world due to the sport's high TV audiences and lucrative property assets.

Last month, Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team part-owner Todd Boehly struck a deal to buy Chelsea, with financial backing from Clearlake Capital, while last October a Saudi-Arabian backed consortium bought Newcastle United.

In France, there are nine clubs that are foreign owned, including OGC Nice. They are owned by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, who also owns the cycling team, Ineos Grenadiers. Elsewhere, AS Monaco is owned by Dmitry Rybolovlev, who thus far has escaped sanctions after Russia's invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.