Inside the club is a series where I analyze a particular club, it’s history and it’s future. Today I would be looking at Olympique Lyonnais.

Olympique Lyonnais commonly referred to as simply Lyon is a French football club based in the city of Lyon. It plays in France’s highest football division, Ligue 1.

History

Olympique Lyonnais was initially formed under the multisports club Lyon Olympique Universitaire, which was originally formed in 1896 as Racing Club de Lyon. Following numerous internal disagreements regarding the cohabitation of amateurs and professionals within the club, then-manager of the club Félix Louot and his entourage contemplated forming their own club. On 3 August 1950, Louot’s plan came to fruition when Olympique Lyonnais was officially founded by Dr Albert Trillat and numerous others.

The club’s most successful period has been the 21st century. The club won its first Ligue 1 championship in 2002, starting a national record-setting streak of seven successive titles.

Olympique Lyonnais is one of the most popular clubs in France. A 2009 survey found that about 11% of the country’s football fans support the club, a proportion Lyon shared with Paris Saint-Germain, behind only Olympique de Marseille.

Academy

A study released by the CIES Football Observatory last October found that Lyon has produced the second-highest number of players currently playing in one of Europe’s top five leagues, behind only Real Madrid. It is a fitting achievement for a club whose nickname, Les Gones, is a local expression meaning “The Kids.”

At Lyon’s estimation, 8-12 per cent of the players in each age group who come through their youth system go on to sign professional contracts, either at the club or elsewhere, compared to an average of 5-6 per cent in the rest of France. It is the result of diligent scouting, expert coaching, sensitive pastoral care and unwavering financial support for youth development, but it is also a matter of principle.

Players like Alex Lacazette, Samuel Umtiti and Nabil Fekir have graduated from this academy.

“Lyon has a culture of faith in young players,” Jean-Francois Vulliez, the current head of the Lyon academy, said. “It’s part of the club’s DNA.”

Women’s Team

Olympique Lyonnais (women) currently play in France’s top division, the Championnat de France de football féminin. The ladies team was set up in the 1970s as part of FC Lyon but was attached to OL in the summer of 2004. They mostly play their home games at Groupama OL Training Center, 200 metres from Parc Olympique Lyonnais, the main stadium.

It is the most successful club in the history of Division 1 Féminine with fourteen league titles as Olympique Lyonnais and four league titles as FC Lyon before the acquisition. They have won six Champions League titles including a record of four in a row from 2016 to 2019. They have also won 13 consecutive domestic league titles from 2007 to 2019. They have won a lot of titles because of Ada Hegerberg who received the first Ballan d’or last year and has scored goals for fun.

Men’s Team

Lyon’s men’s team has not tasted successes as frequently as the women team has. Although as I mentioned earlier they have a great academy. Lyon has been the second or the best team in France for about 5 years and had not made any progress anywhere, so they sacked their manager Bruno Jenesio at the end of the season and now have appointed Sylvinho as their manager and Juninho as their sporting director

Lyon has a very young and talented squad which contains the likes of Nabil Fekir, Memphis Depay, Tanguy Ndombele, Moussa Dembélé and Houssem Aouar. Some of them might go this summer but some will stay and with the help of a good vision they can replace the superstars and produce another lot of them.

Lyon look an exiting team and I think with the help of the brazilian legends they can be the next team to challenge psg regularly.