Association football club in Lyon, France
This article is about the men ‘s association football team. For the women ‘s association football club, see Olympique Lyonnais Féminin
Football club

Olympique Lyonnais ( french pronunciation : ​ [ ɔlɛ̃pik ljɔnɛ ] ), normally referred to as just Lyon ( french pronunciation : ​ [ ljɔ̃ ] ) or OL, is a french professional football golf club based in Lyon in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It plays in France ‘s highest football division, Ligue 1. Founded in 1899, [ 2 ] the cabaret won its beginning Ligue 1 championship in 2002, starting a national record-setting streak of seven consecutive titles. Lyon has besides won eight Trophées des Champions, five Coupes de France, and three Ligue 2 titles. Lyon has participated in the UEFA Champions League seventeen times, and during the 2009–10 season, reached the semi-finals of the contest for the inaugural time after three previous quarter-final appearances. They once again reached this stage in the 2019–20 season. Olympique Lyonnais plays its home matches at the 59,186-seat Parc Olympique Lyonnais, commercially known as the Groupama Stadium, in Décines-Charpieu, a suburb of Lyon. The club ‘s home colors are white, crimson and blue. Lyon was a penis of the G14 group of leading european football clubs and are founder members of its successor, the European Club Association. Lyon are one of the most back clubs in France, along with Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique de Marseille. [ 3 ] The club ‘s nickname, Les Gones, means “ The Kids ” in Lyon ‘s regional dialect of Franco-Provençal. [ 1 ] They have a long-standing competition with nearby club Saint-Étienne, with whom they contest the Derby Rhône-Alpes. Lyon have been owned by Jean-Michel Aulas since 1987 .

history [edit ]

Olympique Lyonnais was initially formed under the multisports club Lyon Olympique Universitaire, which was in the first place formed in 1896 as Racing Club de Lyon. Following numerous home disagreements regarding the cohabitation of amateurs and professionals within the baseball club, then-manager of the baseball club Félix Louot and his cortege contemplated forming their own club. On 3 August 1950, Louot ‘s plan came to fruition when Olympique Lyonnais was formally founded by Dr. Albert Trillat and numerous others. The club ‘s foremost director was Oscar Heisserer and, on 26 August 1950, played its first official match defeating CA Paris-Charenton 3–0 in front of 3,000 supporters. In merely the club ‘s second class of universe, Lyon was crowned champion of the second division, securing promotion to the inaugural division. The clubhouse maintained its foremost division position for the end of the decade, excluding a year ‘s stint in the second gear class for the 1953–54 season. Lyon achieved moderate success during the 1960s and 1970s with the likes of Fleury Di Nallo, Néstor Combin, Serge Chiesa, Bernard Lacombe and Jean Djorkaeff playing major roles. Under coach Lucien Jasseron, Lyon won its first-ever Coupe de France entitle defeating Bordeaux 2–0 in the 1963–64 season. The clubhouse besides performed respectably in the league under Jasseron ‘s reign until the 1965–66 season, when Lyon finished 16th, which ultimately led to Jasseron ‘s departure. His substitution was Louis Hon, who helped Lyon win their second base Coupe de France entitle after defeating Sochaux 3–1 in the 1966–67 season. Lyon was managed by former Lyon caption Aimé Mignot heading into the 1970s. Under Mignot ‘s helm, Lyon won its third base Coupe de France championship in 1972–73, beating Nantes 2–1. In June 1987, Lyon was bought by Rhône businessman Jean-Michel Aulas who took control of the club aiming to turn Lyon into an established Ligue 1 english. His ambitious plan, titled OL – Europe, was designed to develop the clubhouse at the European grade and rear into the first gear division within a period of no more than four years. The inaugural coach under the new hierarchy was Raymond Domenech. The aspiring president gave Domenech carte blanche to recruit whoever he saw fit to help the team reach the first division. They went on to accomplish this in Domenech ‘s first season in charge. Lyon achieved its zenith under Domenech when it qualified for the UEFA Cup. For the end of his tenure, however, the club underachieved. Domenech was replaced by former french international Jean Tigana, who led the team to an impressive second space in the 1994–95 season. At the originate of the fresh millennium, Lyon began to achieve greater success in french football. The club established itself as the premiere club in France defeating Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain and besides became France ‘s richest club a well as one of the most popular. [ citation needed ] Lyon became known for developing promise talent who went on to achieve greatness not only in France, but besides abroad and internationally. luminary examples include Michael Essien, Florent Malouda, Sidney Govou, Juninho, Cris, Eric Abidal, Mahamadou Diarra, Patrick Müller and Karim Benzema. Lyon won its first ever Ligue 1 championship in 2002, starting a national record-breaking mottle of seven consecutive titles. During that run the club besides won one Coupe de France title, its first Coupe de la Ligue entitle and a record six Trophée des Champions. The club besides performed well in UEFA competitions, reaching american samoa far as the quarter-finals on three occasions and the semi-finals in 2010 in the UEFA Champions League. Lyon ‘s streak and consistent laterality of french football came to an end during the 2008–09 season, when it lost the entitle to Bordeaux. OL has begun investment in sports outside of football. OL operates an esports team in China, [ 4 ] and in 2019 purchased a minority post in the local ASVEL basketball club, specifically purchasing a 25 % interest in ASVEL ‘s men ‘s side and a 10 % concern in the women ‘s side. [ 5 ] More recently, OL announced in December 2019 that it would buy an 89.5 % bet on in the U.S. National Women ‘s Soccer League team known at the time as Reign FC. The buy closed in January 2020 following approval of the NWSL board. [ 6 ] Several weeks former, OL announced the rebranding of Reign FC as OL Reign. [ 7 ] In the 2019-20 season, Lyon suffered a poor start to the season, and ended the season in seventh place, as the league was cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. Lyon besides reached the concluding of the Coupe de la Ligue, however, they finally lost to Paris Saint-Germain 6-5 on penalties. ultimately, this intend that Lyon failed to qualify for european contest for the first fourth dimension in 24 years. In the Champions League, Lyon were more successful, defeating Juventus in the round of 16 and Manchester City in the quarter-final to reach the semi-finals for the beginning meter in 10 years. however, they finally lost 3-0 in the semi-final to Bayern Munich, eliminating Lyon from the rival .

possession and finances [edit ]

Olympique Lyonnais is owned by Rhône businessman Jean-Michel Aulas, who acquired the golf club on 15 June 1987. He serves as the founder and headman operating military officer of CEGID ( Compagnie Européenne de Gestion par l’Informatique Décentralisée ). After ridding the club of its debt, Aulas restructured the cabaret ‘s management and reorganised the finances and, in a straddle of two decades, transformed the clubhouse from a second division team into one of the richest football clubs in the earth. however, Aulas has been lambasted by critics for running the cabaret as if it were a business. The baseball club presently operates on the European Stock Exchange under the name OL Groupe, initialled OLG. [ 8 ] In April 2008, business magazine Forbes ranked Lyon as the thirteenth most valuable football team in the world. The magazine valued the club at $ 408 million ( €275.6M ), excluding debt. [ 9 ] In February 2009, Lyon were rated in the 12th spotlight in the Deloitte Football Money League, reportedly bringing in an annual tax income of €155.7 million for the 2007–08 season, which ranks among the world ‘s best football clubs in terms of gross. [ 10 ] In 2016, a chinese secret equity store acquired 20 % stake in Olympique Lyonnais Group for €100 million. The store was managed by IDG Capital Partners. [ 11 ] Aulas presently serves on the control panel for the European Club Association, a sports administration representing football clubs in Europe. He was besides the last president of the now-defunct G-14 organization .

As of 1 October 2018.
Club Management
President and chairman Jean-Michel Aulas 
Managing director Thierry Sauvage
Sporting Director Juninho Pernambucano
Director of Scouting Florian Maurice
Commercial Director Olivier Bernardeau
Marketing Director Didier Kermarrec
Security Director Annie Saladin
Director of Special Operations Mathieu Giraud
Special Advisor Bernard Lacombe

stadium [edit ]

One of the two lions guarding the main entrance to the Stade Gerland . Parc Olympique Lyonnais . view of the Stade de Gerland. Olympique Lyonnais used to play at the Stade de Gerland since 1950, the class of the cabaret ‘s foundation garment. In 1910, the mayor of Lyon, Édouard Herriot, came up with the estimate to develop and build a sports stadium with an athletics track and a velodrome in the city. In 1912, the stadium was officially mandated and local architect Tony Garnier was given the reins to designing and constructing it. Construction began in 1914 with hopes that the stadium would be completed before the International Exhibition of 1914. Due to World War I, however, construction was temporarily halted, but resumed following its conclusion in 1919. By 1920, the stadium was completely running. In 1926, the Stade de Gerland was inaugurated by Herriot. Olympique Lyonnais began playing at the Gerland in 1950 and remained at the stadium until 2016. The stadium in the first place had a bicycle track, but was removed to increase the seating capacity to 50,000. In 1984, minor renovations were made to the stadium by architect Rene Gagis. This include construction of the Jean Bouin and Jean Jaurès stands. further renovations were needed to prepare the stadium for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, as by that time FIFA had mandated that all stadiums used for international matches, including the World Cup, had to be all-seated. The north and south stands, known as the Jean Jaurès and Jean Bouin stand, respectively, were completely knocked down and rebuilt, and the athletics track that had remained, even after the cycle track had been removed, was taken out. The renovations were done by architect Albert Constantin. The new incarnation of Gerland had a maximum capacity of 40,500. On 1 September 2008, Olympique Lyonnais president Jean-Michel Aulas announced plans to create a newfangled 60,000-seat stadium, tentatively called OL Land, to be built on 50 hectares of estate located in Décines-Charpieu, a suburb of Lyon. The stadium includes state-of-the-art dissipated facilities, two hotels, a leisure center and commercial and business offices. On 13 October 2008, the visualize was agreed upon by the State, the General Council of Rhône, the Grand Lyon, SYTRAL and the municipality of Décines for construction with approximately €180 million of public money being used and between €60–80 million coming from the Urban Community of Lyon. [ 12 ] After the announcement, however, the club ‘s efforts to get the stadium off the grind were been hindered chiefly due to slow administrative procedures, political interests and respective opposition groups, who viewed the stadium as financially, ecologically and socially wrong for the taxpayers and community of Décines. The official list of the stadium was provisionally to be The Stade des Lumières. [ 13 ] [ 14 ] On 22 September 2009, french newspaper L’Equipe reported that OL Land had been selected by the french Football Federation ( FFF ) as one of the 12 stadiums to be used in the nation ‘s bid for UEFA Euro 2016. [ 15 ] The FFF officially made their selections on 11 November 2009 and the city of Lyon was selected as a site to host matches during the tournament. [ 16 ] The unfold of Parc OL was on 9 January 2016. Olympique Lyonnais beat Troyes 4–1 with goals from Alexandre Lacazette, Rachid Ghezzal, Jordan Ferri and Claudio Beauvue .

train Centre [edit ]

The Centre Tola Vologe was the trail center and clubhouse headquarters of Olympique Lyonnais before the move to their fresh stadium in 2016. It is located in the city of Lyon, not far from the Stade de Gerland. The facility is named after Anatole Vologe, normally called Tola Vologe, who was a Lyon sport and was murdered by the Gestapo during World War II. The facility is known for its high-level discipline [ 17 ] and several outstanding players have passed through the youth train kernel. These include Karim Benzema, Hatem Ben Arfa, Sidney Govou, Alexandre Lacazette, Samuel Umtiti and Ludovic Giuly. The kernel used to host train sessions for the elder team and besides served as the home facility for the club ‘s reserve, youth ( both male and female ), and female sides, who both played their home matches at the Plaine des Jeux de Gerland. Jean-François Vulliez is the stream director of the center. Both the men and women teams now train within a modern complex justly by the newly Groupama Stadium in Décines. The youth Academy besides moved to the neighbouring town of Meyzieu .

Colours and kits [edit ]




Lyon won six of their seven league titles wearing this kit. Since the club ‘s foundation, the elementary colours have been red, blue, and white, with the latter being the most prevailing of the three. During the early years of the club ‘s being, Olympique Lyonnais primarily played in all-white uniforms. In 1955, Lyon officials decided to add a crimson and blue chevron and blue shorts to the combination. [ 18 ] In 1961, the chevron tradition was disbanded and the two strips of loss and blue were shaped horizontally. [ 19 ] After six years, the club returned to the all-white uniforms, but kept intact the red and blue stripes, but, alternatively of keeping them horizontally, inserted them vertically and on the left side of the shirt. [ 20 ] Lyon began wearing the shirt during the 1970–71 season and wore the kits up until the 1975–76 temper. For the 2002–03 season, president Jean-Michel Aulas announced that the club would return the kits. Lyon wore them, with respective different modifications every year, for six of their seven straight titles. In 1976, the club endured a drastic change to their kits, ditching the all-white uniforms for an all-red expressive style, akin to English club Liverpool. The clubhouse wore the kits astir until the 1989–90 season, with the 1977–78 and 1978–79 seasons being excluded due to the club adding navy blue upright stripes to the shirt that was deemed unsuccessful. [ 21 ] Following the 1989–90 season, the club returned to the all-white kits and, at the start of the 1995–96 season, the club returned the vertical stripes, but opted to insert them in the center of the shirt, rather of to the leave. The club kept this style until the 2001–02 season. For the 2009–10 temper, Lyon returned the horizontal crimson and blue stripes. In the Champions League, Lyon has used a kind of different colours as first gear choice, including red, navy blue, ignite gloomy, black, silver and fluorescent scandalmongering. [ 22 ]

Supporters [edit ]

Bad Gones before the match Olympique Lyonnais – Real Madrid in 2006. Tribune ofbefore the couple Olympique Lyonnais – Real Madrid in 2006. Olympique Lyonnais has a highly-active and firm fanbase composed of many groups of supporters. One of the club ‘s most luminary supporters group is Bad Gones ( “ Bad Kids ” ). The Bad Gones were established in 1987 around the fourth dimension of Jean-Michel Aulas ‘s purchase of the team and occupy the Virage Nord area of the Stade de Gerland. During the 2007–08 season, the group celebrated its twentieth anniversary. The Bad Gones is the biggest group of supporters in France and have a identical solid reputation in Europe, due to the cabaret ‘s manipulate of Ligue 1, a well as Lyon ‘s continue appearances in the UEFA Champions League. Another noteworthy supporters group is the Cosa Nostra Lyon, who occupy the Virage Sud area of the stadium. The group was created in 2007 as a consequence of a fusion between two groups, the Lugdunums, which had existed since 1993 and Nucleo Ultra, which formed in 2000. The amalgamation was created to achieve a sense of constancy among supporters. The group is no longer recognised by the club, but continues to operate in a functional manner. other support groups include the Hex@gones, which was formed in 2000 and sit in the Virage Sud area, the Gastrogones, who occupy the Jean Bouin stand, and the O’Elles Club, who sit in the Jean Jaurès resist. The clubhouse besides has patronize groups that are based in areas outside of the city of Lyon. The Gones 58 supporters come from the department of Nièvre in Bourgogne, while Gones 26 origins come from the department of Drôme in nearby Valence. Three minor accompaniment groups in Septimagones, Loups Marchois, and Dauphigones comes from the commune of Hérépian, the department of Creuse, and the department of Isère, respectively .

Statistics and records [edit ]

Lyon ‘s first competitive game was a 3–0 victory against CA Paris-Charenton on 26 August 1950. Since the cabaret ‘s foundation garment in 1950, they have played 48 seasons in France ‘s highest football division, which totals 1,768 matches. Of the 1,768, they achieved 686 victories, drew 442 matches and lost 602 contests. Of the nine seasons the club played in Ligue 2, they contested 310 matches, winning 160 matches, drawing 84 times and losing only 56. Lyon achieved their 1,000th victory during the 2003–04 temper after defeating Strasbourg. The Moroccan-born French midfielder Serge Chiesa holds Lyon overall appearance record having played in 541 matches over the course of 14 seasons from 1969 to 1983. Following him is early goalkeeper Grégory Coupet who contested 518 matches over the run of 11 seasons from 1997 to 2008. Along with Sidney Govou, Coupet besides has the distinction of being the only player in Lyon ‘s history to win all four domestic french titles having been a part of all seven Ligue 1 titles, the club ‘s Coupe de France wallow in 2008, the alone Coupe de la Ligue win in 2001, and six of the seven Trophée des Champions titles. Govou, Coupet, and Juninho share the award of being alone Lyon players who were a function of all seven deed runs. The club ‘s all-time lead scorer is Fleury Di Nallo, who scored 182 goals while at the club from 1960 to 1974. Di Nallo is besides third gear behind Chiesa and Coupet in all time appearances having played in 489 matches during his 14-year scrimp at the club. Despite Di Nallo ‘s impressive goalscoring record, he does n’t hold the record for most goals scored during a league season. That distinction was held by Bourg-en-Bresse -born André Guy who notched 25 goals, which he attained in the 1968–69 season. Alexandre Lacazette, however, scored his 26th finish of the 2014–15 league season in an important plot away to Stade de Reims when he scored in the sixth moment.

Juninho converted a record 44 free kicks at Lyon Lyon ‘s biggest victory is 10–0, which occurred of two occasions against Ajaccio in the 1953–54 edition of the Coupe de France and, two seasons late, against Delle in the 1955–56 edition of the competition. Lyon ‘s biggest league victory is 8–0 and besides occurred on two occasions. The first base being during the 1966–67 temper against Angers and the irregular being against Marseille during the 1997–98 temper. The club ‘s biggest victory on the european stage occurred during the 1974–75 season, where Lyon hammered Luxembourg -based club FA Red Boys Differdange 7–0 .

Rivalries [edit ]

historically, Lyon has a healthy competition with chap Ligue 1 cabaret Saint-Étienne, whom they contest the Derby Rhône-Alpes with. [ 23 ] Since the club ‘s dominance at the starting signal of the new millennium, however, they have established rivalries with Marseille, Bordeaux, Paris Saint-Germain and Lille. Lyon besides share minor rivalries with fellow Rhône-Alpes clubs Grenoble and AS Lyon Duchère. The Saint-Étienne competition began during the 1960s when Lyon established permanent residency in the french first division. The Arpitan competition stems from both clubs close proximity of each other, separated by fair 61 kilometres ( 38 myocardial infarction ), a well as diachronic social and cultural difference between the two cities where they are based ; Lyon cited as being more upper-class, while Saint-Étienne is cited as being more wage-earning. [ 23 ] The bowler hat besides pits “ the recently most successful french club ” ( Lyon ) against “ the once biggest french club ” ( Saint-Étienne ) and is much cited as one of the high-points of the Ligue 1 season. Lyon ‘s competition with Marseille goes back to 23 September 1945, when the clubs contested their first couple. The bowler hat, frequently called Choc des Olympiques ( “ Clash of the Olympics ” ) or Olympico, is frequently cited as being peculiarly crucial as both clubs are of high standard in french football and the backing is regularly decided between the two. Marseille, Saint-Étienne, Lyon, and PSG are the only french clubs to have won the french first part four straight times with Marseille doing it on two occasions .
On 7 August 2009, Lyon announced that it would sign a ten-year deal with the german sportswear brand Adidas, effective at the originate of the 2010–11 season with Lyon earning €5 million per annum from the deal, plus possible royalty fees based on merchandise sales. [ 24 ] Following the 2008–09 season, Lyon ‘s long-run sponsorship agreement with the french multinational corporation Accor and Renault Trucks ended. On 22 July 2009, the Paris-based on-line bookmaker BetClic reached an agreement with Lyon to advertise on the club ‘s kits. due to french law prohibiting on-line gamble, however, Lyon could not wear its kits displaying the BetClic logo. On 12 August 2009, good before the open league match against Le Mans, the baseball club was relieved of its BetClic-sponsored shirts by the Ligue de Football Professionnel ( LFP ), which warned the club that it risked forfeiting points if the club wore them. [ 25 ] Lyon complied and, since the Le Mans match, wore sponsorless shirts while playing on french dirt. Lyon were release to wear its BetClic sponsored shirts outside France ; on 25 August 2009, the club unveiled the shirts in Belgium while taking on Anderlecht in the Champions League. On 15 January 2010, Lyon secured a sponsorship agreement with japanese video game company Sony Computer Entertainment to display the party ‘s PlayStation logo on their shirts. The batch lasted until the end of the 2009–10 season. In 2010, the french ban on on-line gambling ad was lifted and Lyon began wearing its BetClic-sponsored shirts on french soil. In August 2012, the clubhouse agreed a biennial sponsorship share with korean car manufacturers Hyundai that would start in 2012–13 season, replacing BetClic as the chief patron in their shirts for Ligue 1 matches. minor sponsors of the club include LG, APICIL, and MDA Électroménager. During Coupe de France matches, the golf club clothing kits sponsored by SFR, Caisse d’Épargne and Pitch as they are independent sponsors of the FFF. During Coupe de la Ligue matches, Lyon break shirts with the Speedy Triangle logo on the front of their shirt, as they are main sponsors of the LFP .

Media [edit ]

On 27 July 2005, the club launched the 24/7 network OL television receiver, which is completely devoted to club programming and events, along with modesty and women ‘s team matches .

  • In seasons where there are multiple shirt sponsors, a different sponsor would appear for corresponding kits, e.g. home, away, and alternate kits.

Honours [edit ]

Lyon has won Ligue 1 seven times, which ranks sixth in french football history. Lyon has the distinction of starting a national record-breaking streak of seven consecutive titles beginning with the 2001–02 temper. The club has besides been crowned champions of Ligue 2 three times, won five Coupe de France titles, one Coupe de la Ligue entitle and eight Trophée des Champions. Though the cabaret is a regular participant in the UEFA Champions League, they have lone reached deoxyadenosine monophosphate far as the semi-finals, which was accomplished during the 2009–10 and 2019–20 seasons. Lyon has won the UEFA Intertoto Cup, achieving this award in 1997 .

domestic [edit ]

league [edit ]

Cups [edit ]

Winners (8): 1973, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012
Runners-up (4): 1967, 2008, 2015, 2016

International competitions [edit ]

official [edit ]

invitational [edit ]

UEFA club coefficient ranking [edit ]

As of 20 November 2021[26]

Players [edit ]

current police squad [edit ]

As of 15 October 2021 [ 27 ]
note : Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality .

Out on lend [edit ]

note : Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality .

Reserve police squad [edit ]

As of 1 September 2021 [ 28 ]
note : Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality .

erstwhile players [edit ]

For a complete list of former Olympique Lyonnais players with a Wikipedia article, see here.

Numbers of honor [edit ]

16France retired in 1999 in recognition of goalkeeper Luc Borrelli. Borrelli was killed in a road accident in February of that year. In 2011, the number was brought out of retirement and given to back-up goalkeeper Anthony Lopes. 17Cameroon retired in 2003 in recognition of midfielder Marc-Vivien Foé. Foé died while playing for Cameroon in the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup at the Stade de Gerland, Lyon. The count was brought out of retirement in 2008 to allow Cameroonian musician Jean Makoun to wear it. Following Makoun ‘s deviation, the number went without use for a class. In 2011, it was given to Alexandre Lacazette .

Award winners [edit ]

UNFP Player of the Year

The following players have won the UNFP Player of the Year while playing for Lyon :

UNFP Young Player of the Year

The following players have won the UNFP Young Player of the Year while playing for Lyon :

UNFP Goalkeeper of the Year

The following player have won the UNFP Goalkeeper of the Year while playing for Lyon :

Bravo Award

The following players have won the Bravo Award while playing for Lyon :

Coaches [edit ]

Olympique Lyonnais has had 22 permanent wave coaches and two caretaker coaches since the club ‘s first base appointed Oscar Heisserer as a professional bus in 1950. Heisserer besides served as the first player-coach of the golf club, coming out of retirement to play during his final season at the club. The longest-serving coach in terms of time was Aimé Mignot, who coached Lyon for eight years from 1968 to 1976. Alain Perrin, who coached the club from 2007–08, was the first Lyon coach to achieve the double .

current coach staff [edit ]

As of 26 July 2021.

Olympique Lyonnais women [edit ]

Olympique Lyonnais Féminin presently play in France ‘s top division, Division 1 Féminine. The ladies team was set up in the 1970s as region of FC Lyon, but was attached to OL in the summer of 2004. They by and large play their home games at Groupama OL Training Center, 200 metres from Parc Olympique Lyonnais, the main stadium .

Honours [edit ]

References [edit ]