Ratcliffe puts FC Lausanne-Sport up for sale as INEOS sporting retreat widens

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS has put Swiss club FC Lausanne-Sport up for sale, with consultancy firm Alvarez & Marsal appointed to oversee the process and sales prospectuses already distributed to potential investors, according to The Athletic.

The decision marks a further contraction of INEOS’s sporting portfolio. The company, which also holds a minority stake in Manchester United, is simultaneously seeking a buyer for French Ligue 1 club OGC Nice — a process that has proven difficult. INEOS has reportedly been forced to significantly reduce its initial €250 million (£209.5m) asking price for Nice after encountering resistance from supporters who have long been hostile to Ratcliffe’s ownership.

INEOS purchased Lausanne-Sport in November 2017, just a year after relocating its global headquarters away from the Swiss city, where it had been based between 2010 and 2016. Despite nearly eight years under INEOS ownership, the club has qualified for European competition only once — a modest return in a 12-team league that, while historically dominated by FC Basel and Young Boys, offers more accessible routes to continental football than most major European divisions.

Lausanne-Sport’s financial position has deteriorated sharply. Losses are projected to reach £5 million this season, a figure that could climb further if the club fails to secure a replacement for INEOS’s own sponsorship. The club currently sits at the bottom of the Swiss Super League table, and relegation this season would represent the third time the club has dropped out of the top flight during the INEOS era — though it has also won promotion twice in the same period.

The sale of Lausanne-Sport follows INEOS abruptly ending its sponsorship agreements with New Zealand’s All Blacks and Tottenham Hotspur last year, moves that drew considerable attention at the time. Taken together, the disposals and withdrawals amount to a significant scaling back of the ambitious multi-sport strategy INEOS pursued through much of the previous decade.

The struggles at Lausanne-Sport have fed into broader scrutiny of INEOS’s stewardship across its football interests, with critics pointing to similar concerns about the direction of Manchester United, where Ratcliffe’s minority ownership has not yet produced the turnaround many supporters had hoped for.