PARIS (AP) — Storied French club Lyon won its appeal against relegation on Wednesday and will stay in Ligue 1 next season.
The seven-time French champion was relegated to the second tier two weeks ago by the French league’s soccer watchdog, known as DNCG, because of ongoing financial irregularities and debts estimated at 175 million euros ($203 million).
Lyon immediately appealed and presented its case before the DNCG on Wednesday.
"Olympique Lyonnais welcomes today's decision by the DNCG to keep the club in Ligue 1,” Lyon said in a statement. “(Lyon) thanks the appeals committee for recognizing the ambition of the club's new management, (which is) determined to ensure serious management in the future.”
Last Wednesday, American businesswoman Michele Kangtook over as president after John Textor resigned following the club's relegation.
Lyon added that Textor has also resigned from the board of directors. The American businessman became Lyon president three years ago, taking over from longstanding incumbent Jean-Michel Aulas, who sold to Textor’s Eagle Football Holdings.
The 66-year-old Kang is supported in her role by Michael Gerlinger, the general manager of Eagle Football Holdings.
"The new management, supported by the commitment and dedication of our shareholders and lenders, is extremely grateful for all the support received both within and outside the club," Lyon added. “Today's decision is the first step in restoring confidence in Olympique Lyonnais. We can now focus our attention on our sporting objectives, fully preparing for next season.”
The French soccer federation said in a brief statement that the DNCG's decision allows for Lyon's wage bill and transfer spending to be placed under close supervision.
Lyon, which won its seven league titles from 2002-08, opens its campaign away to Lens in mid-August.
Wednesday's verdict also ensures Lyon plays in the Europa League next season after qualifying with a sixth-placed finish in Ligue 1 last season.
That, in turn, places Crystal Palace's place in the Europa League in jeopardy.
The English team won the FA Cup last season for its first ever major trophy and qualified for the Europa League.
However, Textor, whose Eagle Football Holdings own Lyon, holds a 43% stake in Palace. According to UEFA regulations, if a party has more than a 30% stake in the two different clubs, they cannot participate in the same European competition. Lyon finished higher in its league than Palace, which was 12th in the Premier League last season.
Textor has agreed to sell his Palace stake to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson. That deal hasn’t yet been confirmed.
European governing body UEFA had postponed its decision until Lyon's case was settled. Its financial control body is now expected to rule on Palace's European fate in the coming days.
A Champions League semifinalist five years ago, Lyon narrowly lost to Manchester United in the Europa League quarterfinals this season and missed out on a cash windfall when it failed to qualify for next season's Champions League.
Lyon received a much-needed cash injection by selling coveted playmaker Rayan Cherki to Manchester City for 36 million euros (then $41 million), while high-earning forward Alexandre Lacazette left the club.
Lyon is also better placed to keep hold of its leading players this season, although strengthening the side may prove difficult amid tight finances.
AP Sports Writer Steve Douglas contributed.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - Lyon's Thiago Almada, centre, celebrates with teammates after scoring the opening goal during the Europa League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Lyon and Manchester United at Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
FILE - American businesswoman Michele Kang, owner of Olympique Lyonnais, on the tribune to watch the women's Champions League semifinals, first leg, soccer match between Arsenal FC and Olympique Lyonnais at the Arsenal Stadium, in London, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
FILE - Lyon's Alexandre Lacazette, right, celebrates with teammates scoring a goal during the French League One soccer match between Lyon and Saint-Etienne at the Groupama stadium in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Nov. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani, File)
Federal immigration agents deployed to Minneapolis have used aggressive crowd-control tactics that have become a dominant concern in the aftermath of the deadly shooting of a woman in her car last week.
They have pointed rifles at demonstrators and deployed chemical irritants early in confrontations. They have broken vehicle windows and pulled occupants from cars. They have scuffled with protesters and shoved them to the ground.
The government says the actions are necessary to protect officers from violent attacks. The encounters in turn have riled up protesters even more, especially as videos of the incidents are shared widely on social media.
What is unfolding in Minneapolis reflects a broader shift in how the federal government is asserting its authority during protests, relying on immigration agents and investigators to perform crowd-management roles traditionally handled by local police who often have more training in public order tactics and de-escalating large crowds.
Experts warn the approach runs counter to de-escalation standards and risks turning volatile demonstrations into deadly encounters.
The confrontations come amid a major immigration enforcement surge ordered by the Trump administration in early December, which sent more than 2,000 officers from across the Department of Homeland Security into the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Many of the officers involved are typically tasked with arrests, deportations and criminal investigations, not managing volatile public demonstrations.
Tensions escalated after the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a 37-year-old woman killed by an immigration agent last week, an incident federal officials have defended as self-defense after they say Good weaponized her vehicle.
The killing has intensified protests and scrutiny of the federal response.
On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota asked a federal judge to intervene, filing a lawsuit on behalf of six residents seeking an emergency injunction to limit how federal agents operate during protests, including restrictions on the use of chemical agents, the pointing of firearms at non-threatening individuals and interference with lawful video recording.
“There’s so much about what’s happening now that is not a traditional approach to immigration apprehensions,” said former Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Sarah Saldaña.
Saldaña, who left the post at the beginning of 2017 as President Donald Trump's first term began, said she can't speak to how the agency currently trains its officers. When she was director, she said officers received training on how to interact with people who might be observing an apprehension or filming officers, but agents rarely had to deal with crowds or protests.
“This is different. You would hope that the agency would be responsive given the evolution of what’s happening — brought on, mind you, by the aggressive approach that has been taken coming from the top,” she said.
Ian Adams, an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of South Carolina, said the majority of crowd-management or protest training in policing happens at the local level — usually at larger police departments that have public order units.
“It’s highly unlikely that your typical ICE agent has a great deal of experience with public order tactics or control,” Adams said.
DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a written statement that ICE officer candidates receive extensive training over eight weeks in courses that include conflict management and de-escalation. She said many of the candidates are military veterans and about 85% have previous law enforcement experience.
“All ICE candidates are subject to months of rigorous training and selection at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, where they are trained in everything from de-escalation tactics to firearms to driving training. Homeland Security Investigations candidates receive more than 100 days of specialized training," she said.
Ed Maguire, a criminology professor at Arizona State University, has written extensively about crowd-management and protest- related law enforcement training. He said while he hasn't seen the current training curriculum for ICE officers, he has reviewed recent training materials for federal officers and called it “horrifying.”
Maguire said what he's seeing in Minneapolis feels like a perfect storm for bad consequences.
“You can't even say this doesn't meet best practices. That's too high a bar. These don't seem to meet generally accepted practices,” he said.
“We’re seeing routinely substandard law enforcement practices that would just never be accepted at the local level,” he added. “Then there seems to be just an absence of standard accountability practices.”
Adams noted that police department practices have "evolved to understand that the sort of 1950s and 1960s instinct to meet every protest with force, has blowback effects that actually make the disorder worse.”
He said police departments now try to open communication with organizers, set boundaries and sometimes even show deference within reason. There's an understanding that inside of a crowd, using unnecessary force can have a domino effect that might cause escalation from protesters and from officers.
Despite training for officers responding to civil unrest dramatically shifting over the last four decades, there is no nationwide standard of best practices. For example, some departments bar officers from spraying pepper spray directly into the face of people exercising Constitutional speech. Others bar the use of tear gas or other chemical agents in residential neighborhoods.
Regardless of the specifics, experts recommend that departments have written policies they review regularly.
“Organizations and agencies aren’t always familiar with what their own policies are,” said Humberto Cardounel, senior director of training and technical assistance at the National Policing Institute.
“They go through it once in basic training then expect (officers) to know how to comport themselves two years later, five years later," he said. "We encourage them to understand and know their training, but also to simulate their training.”
Adams said part of the reason local officers are the best option for performing public order tasks is they have a compact with the community.
“I think at the heart of this is the challenge of calling what ICE is doing even policing,” he said.
"Police agencies have a relationship with their community that extends before and after any incidents. Officers know we will be here no matter what happens, and the community knows regardless of what happens today, these officers will be here tomorrow.”
Saldaña noted that both sides have increased their aggression.
“You cannot put yourself in front of an armed officer, you cannot put your hands on them certainly. That is impeding law enforcement actions,” she said.
“At this point, I’m getting concerned on both sides — the aggression from law enforcement and the increasingly aggressive behavior from protesters.”
Law enforcement officers at the scene of a reported shooting Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Federal immigration officers confront protesters outside Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
People cover tear gas deployed by federal immigration officers outside Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
A man is pushed to the ground as federal immigration officers confront protesters outside Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A woman covers her face from tear gas as federal immigration officers confront protesters outside Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
