Olympique Lyonnais (French pronunciation: [ɔlɛ̃pik ljɔnɛ]; commonly referred to as simply Lyon, or OL) (Euronext: OLG) is a French football club based in Lyon. It plays in France’s highest football division, Ligue 1. The club was formed as Lyon Olympique Universitaire in 1899, according to many supporters and sport historians, but was nationally established as a club in 1950. 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. Lyon has also won a record seven Trophée des Champions, fiveCoupe de France titles and three Ligue 2 Championships.
Lyon has participated in the UEFA Champions League 12 times, and during the 2009–10 season, reached the semi-finals of the competition for the first time after three previous quarter-final appearances. Olympique Lyonnais plays its home matches at the 59,186-seat Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Décines-Charpieu, a suburb of Lyon. The club’s home colours are white, red and blue. Lyon was a member of the G14group of leading European football clubs and are founder members of its successor, the European Club Association.
Olympique Lyonnais is one of the 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 onlyOlympique de Marseille. The club’s nickname, Les Gones, means “The Kids” in Lyon’s regional dialect of Arpitan. The chairman of Lyon is Jean-Michel Aulas and the club is managed by Bruno Génésio. Olympique Lyonnais also has a successful women’s football team having won its league a record nine times. The women’s team has also won three Challenge de France titles and the UEFA Women’s Champions League in 2011 and 2012.
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 first manager 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 just the club’s second year of existence, Lyon was crowned champion of the second division moving up to the first division. The club maintained its first division place for the remainder of the decade, excluding a year’s stint in the second division for the 1953–1954 season.
Lyon achieved moderate success during the 1960s and 70s with the likes of Fleury Di Nallo, Nestor Combin, Serge Chiesa, Bernard Lacombe, and Jean Djorkaeff playing major roles. Under manager Lucien Jasseron, Lyon won its first-ever Coupe de France title defeating Bordeaux 2–0 in the 1963–64 season. The club also 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 replacement was Louis Hon, who helped Lyon win their second Coupe de France title after defeating Sochaux 3–1 in the 1966–67 season. Lyon was managed by former Lyon legendAimé Mignot heading into the 70s. Under Mignot’s helm, Lyon won its third Coupe de France title in 1972–73 beating Nantes 2–1.
In June 1987, Olympique Lyonnais was bought by Rhône businessman Jean-Michel Aulas who took control of the club aiming to turn Lyon into an established Ligue 1 side. His ambitious plan, titled OL – Europe, was designed to develop the club at the European level and back into the first division within a period of no more than four years. The first manager under the new hierarchy was Raymond Domenech. The aspiring chairman 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 remainder of his tenure the club underachieved. Domenech was replaced by former French international Jean Tigana, who led the team to an impressive second place in the 1994–95 season.
At the start of the new millennium, Olympique Lyonnais began to achieve greater success in French football. The club established itself as the premiere club in France defeating Olympique Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain and also became France’s richest club as well as one of the most popular.[citation needed] Lyon became known for developing promising talent, who went on to achieve greatness not only in France, but also abroad and internationally. Notable examples included: Michael Essien, Florent Malouda, Sidney Govou,Juninho Pernambucano, Cris, Éric Abidal, Mahamadou Diarra, Patrick Müller, and Karim Benzema. Lyon won its first ever Ligue 1 championship in 2002, starting a national record-breaking streak of seven successive titles. During that run the club also won oneCoupe de France title, its first Coupe de la Ligue title, and a record six Trophée des Champions. The club also performed well in UEFA competitions reaching as far as the quarter-finals on three occasions and semifinals in 2010 in the UEFA Champions League. Lyon’s streak and consistent dominance of French football came to an end during the 2008–09 season, when it lost the title to Bordeaux.
source:https://en.wikipedia.org