Lille president Olivier Létang banned for four months over referee remarks

Olivier Létang is in trouble again. The president of Lille (Losc) has been suspended for four months without reprieve for what he said about referees after the club's draw with Paris Saint-Germain.

What happened?

The FFF's appeal commission (the French football federation's appeal body) ruled on Thursday 5 November. It handed Létang a six-month suspension, two of them suspended, which leaves four months to serve. The club confirmed the news.

It comes on top of the €20,000 fine he already received in mid-September from the discipline commission of the LFP (the body that runs professional football in France). The FFF appealed that first penalty, saying it was "too lenient".

What did he actually do?

It goes back to Lille-PSG on 28 August, which ended 2-2. Létang disputed the length of stoppage time and shouted "scandal" in the stadium corridors.

He then emailed Antony Gautier, France's head of refereeing, and the heads of the FFF and the LFP. He protested against the choice of referee Éric Wattellier. "This is very, very, very serious!" he wrote, adding that Lille could no longer accept being refereed by him.

This isn't his first run-in. He was suspended for more than two months in January over remarks to Wattellier at half-time of a 2-0 loss to Rennes. In November 2025, UEFA fined him €10,000 for complaining about the referee after Lille's 4-3 Europa League defeat to PAOK.

How does he see it?

Létang says he "takes note" of the decision and intends to use "all necessary avenues of appeal". He can still go to the CNOSF (France's national Olympic and sports committee).

He called the FFF's appeal "unprecedented" against a French football leader who, he says, neither threatened, attacked nor insulted anyone. He questions the "real motivation" behind it and regrets that the FFF is "closing the door to dialogue".

In his words, punishing a president who asks for more rigour and transparency from the refereeing leadership sends "a worrying signal". Létang is also president of the Ligue 1 clubs' college.

What's next?

All eyes are on the CNOSF appeal. Back in September, the FFF's ethics council had said Létang failed his duty to set an example under the football ethics charter, noting he had already been punished for similar behaviour.