Olympique Lyonnais

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Olympique Lyonnais

Full name

Olympique Lyonnais

Nickname(s)

Les Gones, Lyon, or OL

Founded

1899/1950^[1]

Ground

Stade Gerland
Lyon
(Capacity 41,044^[2])

Chairman

Jean-Michel Aulas

Manager

Alain Perrin

League

Ligue 1





Home colours





Away colours

Current season

Olympique Lyonnais (popularly known as OL, or simply Lyon) is a French football club based in Lyon. They play in Ligue 1 and are the reigning champions of France, for the sixth time running. Lyon have won six Trophées des Champions, three Ligue 2 Championships and Coupe de France titles as well as seven participations in the UEFA Champions League, despite not taking part in a final, or a semi-final. Olympique Lyonnais play their home matches at the 43,051 seater Stade de Gerland, Lyon. OL are also a member of the G14 group of leading European football clubs. Lyon was formed as Lyon Olympique Universitaire in 1899, according to many supporters and sport historians but was nationally established as a club on 3 August 1950. The club also has a women's football team with several international players in it.

[edit] History

[edit] Early history

OL came into existence after a disagreement between the rugby and football sections of the multisports club Lyon Olympique, which has existed since 1899. The football section split from the rest of the club and chose a new name: Olympique Lyonnais. This is why supporters of OL claim that their club was founded in 1899.

Before 1966, the club enjoyed some success; after being eclipsed by FC Lyon in 1908 and 1909, they won the French Championship in 1910. By 1920, they had moved into the Stade de Gerland, a stadium seven years in the making designed by Tony Garnier, a local architect.

Then called Lyon Olympique Universitaire, the club rejoined the professional ranks in 1942, and won the southern pool of the final wartime championship by two points from Bordeaux. The national final pitted them against Rouen, who triumphed 4-0. These successes propelled them in to Division 1 at the start of the 1945/6 season, but headed by Félix Louot the club plummeted back into to Division 2 by 1946.

The club would have to wait a further ten years until they won Ligue 2; their first established trophy, in 1951. However, Lyon were soon relegated back, after spending a season in the Ligue 1. A fresh new, rebuild team was formed by Julien Darui and in 1954, OL had gained promotion for the second time in four years.

OL enjoyed triumph after triumph in the 60's and the 70's where they won three Coupes de France, and a Trophée des Champions; taking note that five managers had joined and left OL at that specific era. However, the club had suffered a long period of drought and were relegated in 1983. The team underachieved and failed to retain any domestic trophy.

[edit] Jean-Michel Aulas - European aspiration

Jean-Michel Aulas took control of the club in 1987. Aulas invested in the club with the objective of turning Lyon into an established Ligue 1 side and also developing the club on a European level, within a time-frame of fifteen years. Under the coaching of Denis Papas and Marcel Le Borgne, the club gained promotion to the top flight on two occasions, but unfortunately was relegated the following season on both occasions.

Raymond Domenech who was born in Lyon, was appointed as their successor and achieved promotion to Ligue 1, after a scoreless draw against Alès. Lyon were crowned champions of Ligue 2 for the third time.

Olympique Lyonnais first top-flight season under Raymond Domenech saw them finish eighth in the league, safe from relegation. Domenech managed a fifth place finish in his second season, which secured Lyon an UEFA Cup spot. European qualification was achieved after a mere two years at the top level, and only four years after Aulas' had taken control).

Domenech decided to leave after the end of the 1992/93 Ligue 1 season, after being selected as the new French U21 coach. Aulas' first choice replacement was former French international, Jean Tigana. He was part of the celebrated 'Magic Diamond', along with Michel Platini, Luis Fernandez and Alain Giresse. Tigana developed the Lyon side into genuine French Ligue 1 title contenders, with the emergence of new players such as Abédi Pelé. However, Tigana left the club in 1995 after serious French media pressure in 1995.

Guy Stéphan took in charge in 1995 following the exit of Tigana and helped Lyon assure a place in European competition, once more through the 'back-door' system of the Intertoto Cup. Stéphan resigned at the start of the new season, and Bernard Lacombe was placed as manager immediately. 'OL' were achieved a place in the UEFA Cup, but failed to make it through to the Third round after losing to Inter Milan, eventual winners of the tournament. The club's league positions continued to rise at the final stages of the 20th century - sixth in 1998 and third in 1999 and 2000.

[edit] Success after success

Olympique Lyonnais have dominated the top French level, Ligue 1, in the early years of the 21st century. After their second-place finish in 2001, OL have won six consecutive Ligue 1 titles (2002-2007), becoming the first club in French history to do so. Lyon's European ambitions have meanwhile never been realised beyond the quarter-finals of the Champions League, however.

The club has attracted many top level coaches, each successful in different competitions and areas of the field.

Jacques Santini was appointed in 2000 after leaving his position at FC Sochaux. Santini quickly restored the team and in 2001, Lyon had won Coupe de la Ligue (League Cup), which surprisingly was the club's first major silverware since the 1973 Coupe de France win. He also steered the side to a top-two finish and Lyon, therefore qualified for the UEFA Champions League in second place. Santini was still not popular with the fans for his defensive approach to the game.

In 2002, Santini went one better and guided Lyon to their first ever Ligue 1 title, after a win against RC Lens. It still didn't convince the majority of the OL supporters that he was the right man, after suffering an early knockout in the Champions League, and a fortnight after the win, Santini announced his resignation with Lyon. He opted for the France national football team, whom suffered humiliation after being knocked out in the 2002 World Cup.

The man who was responsible for delivering three consecutive league titles with Lyon was former Rennes manager Paul Le Guen. Le Guen was highly noted for grooming players such as El Hadji Diouf at his time at Rennes, but he was feared as another failure, according to much of the press.

He undoubtedly proved them wrong, and Lyon had improved in Ligue 1 and in the Champions League. Despite finishing third in the Champions League group stages, Lyon were only knocked out due to the goal against rule, which had meant that OL were placed in the UEFA Cup. Lyon lost to Turkish side, Denizlispor after drawing at home. Le Guen won the league once more by one point.

Le Guen's second season saw Lyon win their third title and second during his reign. OL were also top of their group in the Champions League, despite the threat of previous winners, Bayern Munich. The team had beaten Real Sociedad in the round of 16, but their luck ran out against FC Porto, who ultimately won the competition.

The club had won the league for a fourth time by a majority margin, but were knocked out of the Quarter-finals in the Champions League, yet again. It had looked like OL were going to cruise through the Semi-finals, after trashing German opponents Werder Bremen, 10-2 on aggregate. They were cruelly knocked out on penalties by PSV Eindhoven and left Lyon fans waiting another year for a Champions League final.

A night after Lyon's league success, Le Guen resigned from his position as manager. The news surprised OL fans, who thought that Le Guen would sign a contract extension, and commit himself to the club. He was offered a three-year extension, but decided to leave and be proud of his achievements.

Gérard Houllier, former Liverpool manager who had guided the side to a Cup Treble success in 2001, was appointed as the current Lyon boss in 2005, after the resignation of Le Guen. He had inherited a worthy championship side, with the likes of Juninho, Sylvain Wiltord, Sidney Govou, Florent Malouda and Grégory Coupet. He placed Juninho as captain and brought Portuguese international Tiago to the club from Chelsea, in a part-exchange deal for Michael Essien.

Olympique Lyonnais team bus, 2007

In his first full season, he had guided the side to a fifth consecutive league title but failed to make an impact in the Champions League, after crashing out to AC Milan at the San Siro. It was their third consecutive Quarter-final appearance in the Champions League. Lyon won the title after Lille's win against Bordeaux.

Houllier was recently successful in signing French U21 international, Jérémy Toulalan from Nantes as well as Swedish play-maker, Kim Källström from Rennes. Gérard however, lost the services of Mali's Mahamadou Diarra who had agreed a five-year contract with Real Madrid, worth up to €25 million. In order to replace Mahamadou Diarra, Gérard signed another French international Alou Diarra from RC Lens.

Yet despite a triumphant season debut, in which Lyon thrashed championship challengers Olympique de Marseille 1-4 and RC Lens 0-4 and scored 50 points in the first part of the season alone, Lyon didn't recover from the winter break and lost or drew nearly all the matches in January, including the Coupe de France knockout against Marseille. They managed to regain confidence by beating rivals St. Etienne 1-3, but were not in their autumn form and were decisively beaten by AS Roma at Gerland, thus being eliminated from the Champion's League.

[edit] Supporters and rivals

Olympique Lyonnais has a highly-active and loyal fan-base, in Lyon. Lyon's fans, known as the "Bad Gones", have gained a strong reputation in Europe, due to their control of Ligue 1 as well as their appearances in the Champions League. The Stade de Gerland is frequently a sell-out in the majority of their home European and League matches.

Lyon has a healthy rivalry with fellow side Saint-Étienne, the derby between these two neighbouring Arpitan cities, the "rich and the workers'", is one of the highlights in Ligue 1. AS Monaco, Marseille and Paris Saint-Germain have been OL's secondary rivals, and in recent years Lille and RC Lens have posed threats.

[edit] Major honours

Main article: Olympique Lyonnais in football competitions

Ligue 1 Championship: 6
- 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

Trophée des Champions: 7
- 1973, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

Coupe de France: 3
- 1964, 1967, 1973

Ligue 2 Championship: 3
- 1951, 1954, 1989

Coupe de la Ligue: 1
- 2001

Peace Cup: 1
- 2007

[edit] Retired numbers

16 – in recognition of goalkeeper Luc Borrelli. Borrelli was killed in a road accident in February 1999.

17 – in recognition of midfielder Marc-Vivien Foé. Foé died while playing for Cameroon in the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup at Stade de Gerland, Lyon.

[edit] Managers

Name	Period
Oscar Heisserer	1950-12/1954
Julien Darui	12/1954-1955
Lucien Troupel	1955-1959
Gaby Robert	1959-1961
"Manu" Fernandez	1961-1962
Lucien Jasseron	1962-1966
Louis Hon	1966-1968
Aimé Mignot	1968-02/1976
Aimé Jacquet	02/1976-1980
Jean-Pierre Destrumelle	1980-11/1981
Vladica Kovačević	11/1981-02/1983
Robert Herbin	02/1983-1985
Robert Nouzaret	1985-10/1987
Denis Papas	10/1987-03/1988
Marcel Le Borgne	03/1988-1988
Raymond Domenech	1988-1993
Jean Tigana	1993-1995
Guy Stéphan	1995-10/1996
Bernard Lacombe	10/1996-2000
Jacques Santini	2000-2002
Paul Le Guen	2002-2005
Gérard Houllier	2005-2007
Alain Perrin	2007-

^[3]

[edit] Current squad

As of 27 January 2008.

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Grégory Coupet (vice-captain)
2	DF	François Clerc
3	DF	Cris (vice-captain)
4	DF	Patrick Müller
5	MF	Mathieu Bodmer
6	MF	Kim Källström
8	MF	Juninho (captain)
9	FW	Fred
10	FW	Karim Benzema
11	DF	Fabio Grosso
14	MF	Sidney Govou
18	MF	Hatem Ben Arfa
19	FW	César Delgado

No.	Position	Player
20	DF	Anthony Réveillère
21	MF	Marc Crosas (on loan from FC Barcelona)
22	DF	Anderson
23	FW	Kader Keïta
24	MF	Romain Beynié
25	GK	Joan Hartock
27	FW	Anthony Mounier
28	MF	Jérémy Toulalan
29	DF	Sébastien Squillaci
30	GK	Rémy Vercoutre
32	DF	Jean-Alain Boumsong
33	DF	Mickael Charvet
35	GK	Frédéric Roux

[edit] Squad changes for the 2007/08 season

[edit] In

No.	Position	Player
5	MF	Mathieu Bodmer (€6.5m from Lille OSC ^[4])
11	DF	Fabio Grosso (€7m from Internazionale ^[5]^[6])
21	DF	Nadir Belhadj (loan return from Sedan)
22	DF	Anderson (€4m from S.L. Benfica)
23	FW	Kader Keïta (€18m from Lille OSC^[4])
35	GK	Frederic Roux (free agent from Ajaccio)
19	FW	Cesar Delgado (€10m from Cruz Azul)^[7]
21	MF	Marc Crosas (on loan from FC Barcelona until the end of the season)^[8]
32	DF	Jean-Alain Boumsong (€3m from Juventus FC)^[9]
--	MF	Ederson (€15m from OGC Nice, official in June 2008)^[10]

[edit] Out

No.	Position	Player
5	DF	Claudio Caçapa (Free Agent to Newcastle United)
10	MF	Florent Malouda (€21m to Chelsea^[11])
15	MF	Alou Diarra (€7.75m to Bordeaux^[12])
20	DF	Éric Abidal (€15m to Barcelona^[13])
21	MF	Tiago Mendes (€13m to Juventus^[14])
23	DF	Jérémy Berthod (€2m to AS Monaco^[15])
38	FW	Gregory Bettiol (€330k to Troyes)
39	DF	Mourad Benhamida (Bosman transfer to Montpellier HSC)
--	GK	Rémy Riou (€800k to Auxerre)
22	FW	Sylvain Wiltord (€1.5m to Rennes)
21	DF	Nadir Belhadj (€3.6m to RC Lens)
26	MF	Fábio Santos (6 month loan to São Paulo)
7	FW	Milan Baros (6 month loan to Portsmouth)
12	FW	Loïc Rémy (on loan to RC Lens until the end of the season)^[16]
15	DF	Sandy Paillot (on loan to Grenoble Foot 38 until the end of the season)^[17]

[edit] Reserves & Under 18s

No.	Position	Player
45	GK	Anthony Lopes
38	GK	Jérémy Aymes
35	GK	Alexandre Bouchard
43	GK	Mathieu Gorgelin
	GK	Raphaël Ville
47	DF	Francisco Migliore (also holds French citizenship)
36	DF	Aurélien Badin
34	DF	Loïc Abenzoar
	DF	Anthony Eleka
	DF	Lamine Gassama
	DF	Florent Ogier
	DF	Alexandre Berthod
	DF	Arnaud Archimbaud
	DF	Nicolas Seguin
	DF	Tony Daclinat
	DF	Mickael Fourtier
49	MF	Jeremy Pied
41	MF	Brice Ducarre
	MF	Eric Tie Bi
	MF	Yoann Court

No.	Position	Player
48	MF	Pierrick Valdivia
46	MF	Saïd Mehama
	MF	Arthur Heyninck
	MF	Alexandre Chaffard
42	MF	Maxime Gonalons
	MF	Idriss Bentouati
	MF	Kevin Bonaz
	MF	Ayan Si-Mohamed
50	MF	Romain Dedola
44	FW	Lossémy Karaboué
37	FW	Quentin Barlet
	FW	Jonatan Mendes
	FW	Bruce N'Dala
	FW	Yvan Samaria
	FW	Stephen Ettien
	FW	Stéphane Monsanto
	FW	Alexis Carra
	FW	Yann Ekra
	FW	Romain Miguet
	FW	Matias Chiacchio

[edit] Technical staff

Manager:	Alain Perrin
Assistant Manager:	Rémi Garde
Assistant Coach	Christophe Galtier
Assistant Coach	Bruno Genesio
Goalkeeping Coach	Joël Bats
Team Doctor:	Jean-Jacques Amprino
Fitness Coach	Robert Duverne
Kinesiotherapy:	Patrick Perret/Abdeljelil Redissi
Special advisor:	Bernard Lacombe

[edit] Famous former players

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

Belgium

Eric Deflandre

Brazil

Cameroon

Ghana

Ireland

Mick McCarthy

Libéria

James Debbah

Mali

Norway

John Carew

Paraguay

Roberto Cabañas

Poland

Jacek Bąk

Portugal

Switzerland

Yugoslavia

Ljubomir Mihajlović

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Eugène Kabongo

Israel

Giora Spiegel

[edit] Olympique Lyonnais ladies

Main article: Olympique Lyonnais (ladies)

Olympique Lyonnais (ladies) 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 Plaine des Jeux de Gerland, 400 metres from Stade Gerland, the main stadium.