Palmares

League
Ligue 1 (Champions of France) (level 1)
Winners (7): 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08
Ligue 2 (level 2)
Winners (3): 1950–51, 1953–54, 1988–89
USFSA Lyonnaise French Championship
Winners (4): 1906, 1907, 1910, 1913
French Championship (Southern Pool)
Winners (1): 1944–45
[edit] Cups
Coupe de France
Winners (4): 1964, 1967, 1973, 2008
Coupe de la Ligue
Winners (1): 2001
Trophée des Champions
Winners (7): 1973, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
[edit] European
UEFA Intertoto Cup
Winners (1): 1997

ISTORIA CLUBULUI



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.

STADION



Lyonnais Stadium.
Olympique Lyonnais has played at the Stade de Gerland since 1950, the year of the club's foundation. In 1910, the mayor of Lyon, Édouard Herriot, came up with the idea to develop and build a sports stadia 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 stadia would be completed before the International Exhibition of 1914. However, due to World War I, construction was temporarily halted, but resumed following its conclusion in 1919. By 1920, the stadium was completely functional. In 1926, the Stade de Gerland was inaugurated by Herriot.


Virage Sud entrance to the stadium.Olympique Lyonnais began play at the Gerland in 1950 and have remained at the stadium since. The stadia originally had a cycling track, but was removed in order to increased the seating capacity to 50,000. In 1984, minor renovations were made to the stadium by architect Rene Gagis. This included 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 cycling track had been removed, was taken out. The renovations were done by architect Albert Constantin. The new incarnation of Gerland has a maximum capacity of 40,494.[7]

On 1 September 2008, Olympique Lyonnais president Jean-Michel Aulas announced plans to create a new 60,000-seat stadium, tentatively called OL Land, to be built on 50 hectares of land located in Décines-Charpieu, a suburb of Lyon. The stadium, if built, will also include state-of-the-art sporting facilities, two hotels, a leisure center, and commercial and business offices.

On 13 October 2008, the project 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.[8] However, since the announcement, the club's efforts to get the stadium off the ground has been hindered mainly due to slow administrative procedures, political interests, and various opposition groups, who view the stadium as financially, ecologically, and socially wrong for the taxpayers and community of Décines. The project is currently in limbo, but most estimate that the stadium will be completed by 2013.[9]

On 22 September 2009, French newspaper L'Equipe reported that OL Land had been selected by the French Football Federation as one of the twelve stadiums to be used in the country's bidding for UEFA Euro 2016.[10] 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