Lyon

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. Their most successful period has been the 21st century. The club won their first ever Ligue 1 championship in 2002, starting a national record-breaking streak of seven successive titles. Lyon have also won a record seven Trophée des Champions, four Coupe de France titles, and three Ligue 2 Championships. They have appeared in the UEFA Champions League eleven times, but have not progressed further than the quarter-finals.

Olympique Lyonnais play their home matches at the 41,044-seat Stade de Gerland in Lyon. In 2013, they plan to move into their new stadia, tentatively named OL Land, in Décines-Charpieu, a suburb of Lyon. The club's home colours are white, red and blue. Lyon were a member of the G14 group of leading European football clubs and are founder members of its successor, the European Club Association. The chairman of Lyon is Jean-Michel Aulas and club is managed by Claude Puel.

Olympique Lyonnais is one of the popular football clubs in France. About 11% of the country's population support the club. Lyon share this number with Paris Saint-Germain and only trail Olympique de Marseille.[3] Lyon do, however, hold the honor of being the richest club in the country having generated an annual revenue stream of €139.6 million for the 2008–09 season, according to accountants Deloitte.[4]

Olympique Lyonnais also has a successful women's football team having won their league a record seven times, the last being the 2008–09 season. The women's team has also won three Challenge de France titles.

The club's nickname, Les Gones, means "The Kids" in Lyon's regional dialect of Arpitan language.

HISTORY

Olympique Lyonnais was, initially, formed under the multisports club Lyon Olympique Universitaire, who 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 champions of the second division moving up to the first division. The club maintained their 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 their first-ever Coupe de France title defeating Bordeaux 2–0 in the 1964 edition of the competition. 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 during the 1966–67 season. Lyon were managed by former Lyon legend Aimé Mignot heading into the 70s. Under Mignot's helm, Lyon won their third Coupe de France title during the 1972–73 season, after defeating Nantes 2–1.

In June 1987, Olympique Lyonnais was purchased by Rhône businessman Jean-Michel Aulas who took control of the club with the objective of turning Lyon into an established Ligue 1 side. His ambitious plan, titled OL – Europe, was designed to develop the club on the European level and back into the first division within a time-frame 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 whomever player they saw fit to help the team reach the first division. They proceeded to accomplish this feat in Domenech's first season in charge. Lyon achieved their zenith under Domenech when they qualified for the UEFA Cup. Unfortunately, for the remainder of his tenure the club underachieved severely. Domenech was later replaced by former French international Jean Tigana, who led the team to an impressive 2nd place finish during the 1994–95 season.

At the start of the new millennium, Olympique Lyonnais began to achieve unlimited success in French football. During this time, the club established themselves as the premiere club in France upending the likes of Olympique de Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain and also becoming the country's richest club and one of the most popular. Lyon became known for developing promising talent, who would not only achieve greatness in France, but also abroad and internationally. Notable examples include Michael Essien, Florent Malouda, Juninho Pernambucano, Cris, Éric Abidal, Mahamadou Diarra, Patrick Müller, and Karim Benzema, to name a few. Lyon won their first ever Ligue 1 championship in 2002, starting a national record-breaking streak of seven successive titles. During that span, the club also won one Coupe de France title, their first Coupe de la Ligue title, and a record six Trophée des Champions. The club also performed well in UEFA competition reaching as far as the quarter-finals on three occasions in the UEFA Champions League. Lyon's streak and consistent dominance of French football came to an end during the 2008–09 season, when they were dethroned of their league title by Bordeaux.

Ownership and finances

Olympique Lyonnais is owned by Rhône businessman Jean-Michel Aulas, who acquired the club on 15 June 1987. He serves as the founder and chief operating officer of CEGID (Compagnie Européenne de Gestion par l'Informatique Décentralisée). After riddling the club of its debt, Aulas restructured the club's management and reorganized the finances and, in a span of two decades, transformed the club from a second division team into one of the richest football clubs in the world. However, Aulas has been lambasted for, according to critics, running the club as if it were a business. The club currently operates on the European Stock Exchange under the name OL Groupe, initialed OLG.[5]

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.[6] On 12 February 2009, accountants Deloitte released their annual Deloitte Football Money League. In the report, Lyon were rated in the twelfth spot, reportedly bringing in an annual revenue of €155.7 million for the 2007–08 season, which ranks among the world's best football clubs in terms of revenue.[4]

Aulas currently serves on the board for the European Club Association, a sports organization representing football clubs in Europe. He was also the last president of the now-defunct G-14 organization.