Olympique Lyonnais is a French football club in the city of Lyon. The club's first team competes in France's first football division, Ligue 1. As one of the most successful clubs in French football they won seven Ligue 1 titles fourth most of all-time. The club played 51 seasons in the top division, playing over 1,800 Ligue 1 matches.
History
Beginnings Olympique Lyonnais was established in 1896 originally as Racing Club de Lyon, which is currently known as the multisport club Lyon Olympique Universitaire. In 1899, Olympique de Lyon formed a football team within the multisport club. The early years of the club, the football section was often overshadowed by local rivals FC Lyon, who won the French championship in both the 1908 and 1909 seasons. Both LOU and FC Lyon also shared rivalries with local clubs CS Terreaux and AS Lyonnaise. In 1910, Lyon Olympique won the French Championship eclipsing their rivals. By 1917, the city of Lyon was divided with its citizens supporting only one of the four clubs.
By 1945, Lyon Olympique was managed by Félix Louot, who provided leadership, determination, and faith in order to create a professional football in the city of Lyon. His principles helped the club win the southern pool of the final wartime championship by two points over Bordeaux. In the national final, which pitted them against Rouen, Lyon Olympique lost the match 4–0. These successes propelled the club to the first division, but also led to problems regarding the cohabitation of amateurs and professionals within Lyon Olympique Universitaire. Due to numerous disagreements, Louot and his entourage began to contemplate 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. Due to the split, Lyon moved into the Stade de Gerland, a stadium designed by local architect Tony Garnier. The club's first manager was Oscar Heisserer and on 26 August, played its first official match defeating CA Paris-Charenton 3–0 in front of 3,000 supporters. In 1951, the club was crowned champions of the second division, thus moving up to the first division. Lyon were relegated back to the second division after just one season, despite Heisserer coming out of retirement as a player. Lyon spent the next two seasons in Division 2 building for the future by signing players such as Åke Hjalmarsson and Erik Kuld Jensen. Eventually, during the 1953–54 season, the club achieved promotion back to the first division under the leadership of Heisserer, who departed the club after a four-year stint as manager. He was replaced by Julien Darui, who only managed the club in the first division for six months before leaving his post. Lucien Troupel replaced him.
Troupel joined the club midway through the season, where Lyon ultimately finished in 12th position. Despite the inconsistent start, Troupel developed a squad full of talent, which included savvy veterans like Swiss international Jacques Fatton and Antoine Dalla Cieca, and young emerging talent in Jean Djorkaeff, Marcel Le Borgne and Bernard Gardon. The team responded the following season finishing in the top half of the table and also reaching the semi-finals of the Coupe de France. Over the next three years (1956–1959), Lyon finished mid-table. In 1959, Troupel was replaced as manager by Gaby Robert. The arrival of a new manager included the arrival of an influx of new players with the Argentine Nestor Combin, Cameroonian striker Eugène N'Jo Léa, and Frenchman Jules Sbroglia being the biggest signings. Despite the signings, Lyon still struggled finishing in 16th position for the 1959–60 season.
Success in 1960s and '70s
Olympique Lyonnais enjoyed limited success in the 1960s, partly due to the play of strike force Fleury Di Nallo – known as "The Little Prince of Gerland" and arguably Lyon's greatest player ever – and the Argentine Néstor Combin. Under the guidance of manager Lucien Jasseron, the club achieved their highest first division finish, at the time, finishing in fifth place. The successful season culminated into the club reaching the 1963 Coupe de France final, where they faced Monaco. Lyon secured a 0–0 draw in the first match, but lost the replay 0–2. The following season, the club captured their first-ever Coupe de France title defeating Bordeaux 2–0. The club also finished in fourth position in the league.
The 1964–65 season saw the departure of Combin to Italian club Juventus. Due to this, the team suffered from his absence, finishing in a respectable sixth position in the league, but suffering elimination in the early rounds of both the Coupe de France and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. The 1965–66 season saw Lyon finish in 16th position, their worst finish since 1960–61. The disappointing finish ultimately led to the departure of Jasseron, but his stint at the club is remembered as being largely positive by supporters and he is known for being the first Lyon manager to win the Coupe de France.
Jasseron was replaced by Louis Hon, a former Real Madrid player and a known tactician in the Spanish league. Along with the departure of Jasseron, Lyon also lost several prominent players, including Marcel Aubour, Jean Djorkaeff, Stéphane Bruey and Michel Margottin. The loss of such talented players resulted in the team finishing in 15th position for the 1966–67 season. On a positive note, however, the club won their second Coupe de France title, defeating Sochaux 3–1. The following season, Hon and the team again struggled finishing for the second straight season, finishing in the bottom half of the league. The club did reach the quarterfinals of that year's UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, losing to German side Hamburger SV. The struggles domestically led to the firing of Hon, and he was replaced by former Lyon legend Aimé Mignot.
Mignot first season was mostly timid as the club finished a modest ninth in the league and were eliminated in the round of 16 in the Coupe de France. This inconsistent season was primarily due to Di Nallo breaking his leg in just the fourth match of the season. Despite a healthy Di Nallo returning for the 1969–70 season, Lyon still suffered, finishing 15th.
The 1970s saw the arrival of Yugoslavian defender Ljubomir Mihajlović, commonly called "Loubo" in France, and also a changing of the guard with youth product Bernard Lacombe taking over as primary goalscorer from Di Nallo, who was now an aging veteran that left the team following the 1974–75 season. The new decade also saw the emergence of the Moroccan-born French midfielder Serge Chiesa, who formed a stellar partnership with Lacombe. The 1972–73 season saw Lyon win their third Coupe de France title, defeating Nantes 2–1 with Lacombe ultimately scoring the game-winning goal. The following two seasons over, Lyon finished third with Lacombe and Chiesa leading the way. The next season, despite getting off to a strong start in the league, Lyon struggled fighting relegation for most of the season. Due to this, halfway through the season, Mignot resigned and made way for Aimé Jacquet, who served in a player-coach role for the rest of the season. The coaching change successfully changed the club's focus and Lyon eventually finished in 16th position. Jacquet also led the club to the Coupe de France final where they lost to Marseille 0–2.
Despite early positives in Jacquet's run as manager, his four-year run (1976–1980) was uneventful with the club fighting relegation in two seasons including barely surviving in Jacquet's final season. During Jacquet's tenure, Lyon changed presidents and also lost Bernard Lacombe to rivals Saint-Étienne. Midway through the 1979–80 season, Jacquet announced he was departing the club at the end of the season. He was replaced by Jean-Pierre Destrumelle, who hired former Lyon man Fleury Di Nallo as his assistant.
Destrumelle spent only one year at the club, but brought in several notable players such as Jean Tigana, Alain Moizan, Simo Nikolić and Jean-Marc Furlan. The club finished in the top half of the table and also played in front of a record crowd for the Stade Gerland with 48,852 spectators on hand for the visit of Saint-Étienne, a figure that would remain a French record for ten years. The next six years (1981–1987), the team played under three different managers, Vlatko Kovačević, Robert Herbin and Robert Nouzaret, and also were operated by numerous presidents and chairmen. By 1987, the club were playing in the second division.
Budding success In June 1987, Rhône businessman Jean-Michel Aulas took control of the club and invested in 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.
Aulas' first season (1987–88) in charge was a success as the club finished a respectable second in Groupe B of the second division only faltering in the promotion play-offs. Three different managers served under Aulas during the season. Nouzaret, who started the season, departed midway and he was replaced by Denis Papas who only lasted a few months. Former Lyon player Marcel Le Borgne took over and managed until the end of the season.
The following season, Aulas brought in 36-year-old Raymond Domenech, who was born in Lyon and played for the club during the 1970s. Domenech had previously performed well in a player-coach role as manager of Alsatian club Mulhouse. Aulas also brought back Bernard Lacombe, who, now retired, took the position of sporting director. The aspiring chairman gave both Lacombe and Domenech carte blanche to recruit whichever player they saw fit to help the team reach the first division. Domenech, in an effort to increase competition in the squad, brought in several experienced players such as the Congolese striker Eugène Kabongo and François Lemasson, but also focused on the club's youth teaming the veterans with the likes of Bruno Ngotty and Pascal Fugier. Led by 21 goals from Kabongo, the strategy and results were immediate with the club achieving promotion to Ligue 1 after a scoreless draw against Olympique Alès. Lyon were crowned champions of Ligue 2 for the third time.
Lyon's first top-flight season under Domenech saw them finish eighth in the league, safe from relegation, despite struggling early on during the season. In Domenech's second season in the first division, he completed Aulas' plan of reaching Europe finishing in fifth following a victory over Bordeaux at a sold-out Gerland on the last day of the season. Initially, the finish did not insert Lyon into the UEFA Cup, but following Monaco's victory in the 1991 edition of the Coupe de France, a spot opened and allowed Lyon progression. The next season under Domenech was severely underachieving. The club lost in the first round of both the UEFA Cup and Coupe de France losing to Turkish club Trabzonspor (4–8 on aggregate) and Istres, respectively. The club also finished 16th in the league, which is, as of today, still the worst league finish of the Aulas era. Following the 1992–93 Ligue 1 season, where Lyon again finished in the bottom half of the table, Domenech resigned his position and agreed to manage the France under-21 national team.