Lyon coach Fonseca set for Sporting move: source

Portuguese coach Paulo Fonseca, who has been with Ligue 1 club Lyon since January 2025, has informed his players that he is leaving to join Sporting. This news was relayed to AFP on Monday by a source close to Sporting. Although Lyon and Lyon have not officially confirmed the move, Sporting announced on Sunday that they had started negotiations to terminate the contract of their current coach, Rui Borges.

Fonseca, 53, replaced Pierre Sage at Lyon and guided the team to a fourth-place finish last season. However, Lyon did not qualify for the Champions League group stage after being eliminated in the play-offs. His tenure at Lyon was marked by financial turmoil; the club was provisionally relegated to Ligue 2 by France's financial watchdog in June 2025, a decision later overturned pending cost-cutting measures and player sales.

Despite a nine-month domestic ban in 2024 for a heated confrontation with a referee, Fonseca remained at Lyon.

It is anticipated that Lyon will appoint a permanent coach during the upcoming international break, with Carlos Vicens, a former Braga coach, being one of the leading candidates. In the interim, Jorge Maciel, the club's assistant coach, will manage Lyon in the next two matches: the Europa League game against Real Sociedad on Thursday and the Ligue 1 match at Brest on Sunday, according to the same source.