Lyon

Origin (1899–1950)

In 1899, a football club named Olympique de Lyon was formed within the multi-sport club, Lyon Olympique Universitaire, originally formed in 1896 as Racing Club de Lyon. During the early years of the club, the football section was often overshadowed by then-local rivals, FC 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.

Following months of meetings, Louot's plans came to fruition when a final meeting of around twenty people took place on 23 May 1950 in Café Neuf in the city's main square, Place Bellecour. During this meeting, the name Olympique Lyonnais was decided for the new club, as well as the club's colours of red and blue. Among the twenty people were Albert Trillat, credited with the club's name and colours, as well as Armand Groslevin, who would become the club's first president. Days later on 26 May, Lyon-based newspaper, Le Progrès reported that the club had officially been formed.

On 27 August 1950, the club played its first official match under manager Oscar Heisserer, defeating CA Paris-Charenton 3–0 in front of 3,000 supporters, with Lyon's first goal being scored within the first forty seconds of the match. The majority of the players in Lyon's squad had previously played for Lyon Olympique Universitaire. In just the club's second year of existence, Lyon were crowned champions of Division 2 during the 1950–51 season, securing promotion to Division 1 for the 1951–52 season. The club maintained its place in Division 1 for the remainder of the decade, excluding a year's stint in Division 2 for the 1953–54 season.

Lyon achieved moderate success during the 1960s and 1970s with the likes of Fleury Di Nallo, Néstor 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 during 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 during the 1966–67 season. Lyon was managed by former Lyon legend Aimé Mignot heading into the 1970s. Under Mignot's helm, Lyon won its third Coupe de France title during the 1972–73 season, beating Nantes 2–1.

In June 1987, Lyon was bought by local Rhône-based businessman, Jean-Michel Aulas who took control of the club aiming to turn Lyon into an established Division 1 side. His ambitious plan, titled OL – Europe, was designed to develop the club at a 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, qualifying for the UEFA Cup. For the remainder of his tenure, however, 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, Lyon began to achieve greater success in French football. The club established itself as the premiere club in France, becoming France's richest club. Lyon also became known for developing promising talent who went on to achieve greatness not only in France, but also abroad and internationally. Notable examples include Michael Essien, Florent Malouda, Sidney Govou, Juninho, Cris, Eric Abidal, Mahamadou Diarra, Patrick Müller and Karim Benzema.

Lyon won its first ever Ligue 1 title in 2002, starting a national record-breaking streak of seven successive titles. During that run, the club also won its fourth Coupe de France title in a 1–0 win over Paris Saint-Germain, its first Coupe de la Ligue title and six Trophée des Champions. The club also performed well in UEFA competitions, reaching as far as the quarter-finals on three occasions and the semi-finals 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. Several years later, during the 2011–12 season, Lyon won their fifth and most recent Coupe de France trophy in a 1–0 victory against Quevilly.

Lyon began investment in sports outside of football, operating an esports team in China, and in 2019 purchased a minority stake in the local ASVEL basketball club, specifically purchasing a 25% interest in ASVEL's men's side and a 10% interest in the women's side. The club later announced in December of the same year that it would buy an 89.5% stake in the U.S. National Women's Soccer League team known at the time as Reign FC. The purchase closed in January 2020 following approval of the NWSL board. Several weeks later, the rebranding of Reign FC as OL Reign was announced.

In the 2019–20 season, Lyon suffered a poor start to the season, and ended the season in seventh place, as the league was cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak. Lyon also reached the final of the Coupe de la Ligue, however, they eventually lost to Paris Saint-Germain 6–5 on penalties. Ultimately, this meant that Lyon failed to qualify for European competition for the first time in 24 years. In the Champions League, Lyon were more successful, defeating Juventus in the round of 16 and Manchester City in the quarter-final to reach the semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. However, they eventually lost 3–0 in the semi-final to Bayern Munich, eliminating Lyon from the competition. Two seasons later, Lyon competed in the 2021–22 Europa League season, eventually being knocked out of the competition in the quarter-finals by West Ham 4–1 on aggregate.

On 8 May 2023, after 36 years of presidency, Aulas announced he would be stepping down as president of Olympique Lyonnais, having sold the club to American businessman John Textor in December 2022.

In December 2022, following months of delays and negotiation, Textor's Eagle Group became majority stakeholders of Lyon, acquiring a 77.49% stake in the club at a valuation of €900 million including debt. At the time of purchase, Textor also owned 100% of both Brazilian club Botafogo and Belgian club RWD Molenbeek, as well as a 45% stake in English club Crystal Palace.

On 16 September 2023, Italian coach Fabio Grosso, who is also a former player of the club, was appointed head of the first team. Eventually, with the club last in the Ligue 1 table, the team's management announced at the end of November 2023 that Grosso had been sacked after being in charge for just seven games. Academy coach Pierre Sage was named as the team's interim coach who led the team to finish in sixth place, qualifying Lyon to compete in the 2024–25 Europa League season having spent the two previous seasons out of European tournaments. In July 2024, Sage's interim status was removed and he was named the new permanent coach. On 27 January 2025, Sage was sacked as Lyon manager and replaced by Portuguese coach Paulo Fonseca days later on 31 January. Fonseca eventually led Lyon to a 6th place finish, qualifying Lyon to play in the 2025–26 Europa League season.

During this period, the club sold its women's team, OL Lyonnes, known at the time as Olympique Lyonnais Féminin as well as the LDLC Arena, a multipurpose arena near Lyon's stadium.

On 24 June 2025, Lyon were administratively relegated to Ligue 2 by the DNCG due to the poor state of the club's finances.

On 30 June 2025, it was announced that OL Lyonnes president and shareholder in Eagle Football Group, Michele Kang, had been appointed as Chairwoman and CEO of Eagle Football Group and President of Olympique Lyonnais, with Michael Gerlinger also being appointed Director General after John Textor resigned from his leadership positions. Just over two weeks later, on 9 July 2025, the decision to relegate Lyon due to financial problems was reversed due to actions made by the club, allowing Lyon to compete in both Ligue 1 and the Europa League for the 2025–26 season.