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Despite their short history, Olympique Lyonnais Féminin have achieved phenomenal success.
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Over the past decade, they have become the dominant global force in women’s football.
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Their attraction to players is obvious, and many of the greats have represented the club.
History
Olympique Lyonnais football club were formed in 1950, but it was not until half a century later, in 2004 that Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, the women’s team, were created by the club owner Jean-Michel Aulas.
The city did have a women’s team prior to that, called Lyon FC, whose most successful period was in the 1990s, when they won five league titles.
However, when they were taken over and rebranded in 2004, their status soon changed and significantly so.
Aulas had huge ambitions for the team, which he backed with significant funds, and it was not long before they became a leading force in women’s football, a position they have largely retained ever since.
Their success is not just based on the money available, with many of their stars the highest paid female footballers in the world, but because Aulas made a commitment to treat the men’s and women’s teams equally.
Honours
In under two decades since its formation, the team has won a huge number of trophies and set a high standard for all other teams to match.
They won their first league crown in 2007, losing just a single game during the season, and this began a period of total domestic dominance that stretched to 14 successive league titles, breaking multiple records along the way.
The club have also won a record nine Coupe de France titles since 2008 and in 2019 won the Trophée des Championnes, an annual trophy contested between the Ligue 1 champions and the winners of the Coupe de France.
In Europe, they have also straddled zeniths, though their path has understandably been tougher.
They did not secure their first Champions League until 2011, with a victory over Turbine Potsdam, then promptly retained the trophy the following season.
Thereafter, their domination was total, with five successive continental titles from 2015 on secured, making them the most successful side in Europe until Barcelona won the competition in 2021.
There will be plenty of bets this season on them adding to a considerable haul.
Famous Players
During a period of unprecedented success, the club has witnessed many great players pull on the Lyon shirt, a comprehensive who’s who of global talent, including the likes of Megan Rapinoe and Lucy Bronze.
In truth, there are far too many to mention, but one player who definitely merits a name-check is goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi, a key component of the world’s most formidable women’s team for a decade, though her team’s brilliance ensured she was not always the most overworked of players.
In front of her, Amandine Henry was one of the game’s greatest defensive midfielders, winning the French league 12 times with Lyon and the Silver Ball at the 2015 World Cup.
She joined Lyon in 2007 as they began their period of trophy winning and later captained France.
As for goal scorers, step forward Sandrine Brétigny, who between 2000 and 2012 scored 211 goals in 241 appearances.
She is not the club’s highest scorer however, because that honour going to Eugénie Le Sommer, who having joined the club in 2010 went on to net 276 times in 334 appearances across a highly prolific decade.
Best Current Players
Many players do not stay for long at Lyon, but someone who certainly bucks that trend is Wendie Renard, France’s towering captain and elite centre-back.
She has been with the club since 2006, making her 400th appearance in 2021. Likewise, the Tunisian, Amel Majri has been at the club since 2010; a hugely talented and versatile midfielder who has reverted to left-back in recent years.
Norwegian international Ada Hegerberg has been the main source of goals for many seasons. She joined the club in 2014 and was a success from the start, scoring an incredible 34 goals in 32 games during her debut campaign.
Most seasons this iconic figure in women’s football has averaged over a goal per game and she was undoubtedly a worthy winner of the 2018 Ballon D’Or.
Having returned from serious injury in 2021, check our football odds today backing her for future success.
Elsewhere, midfielder Catarina Macario is a player with almost unlimited potential. Born in Brazil, she moved to the US in 2011, and has developed into one of the world’s most promising players.
Finally, the French star Delphine Cascarino has been a mainstay as a winger for club and country, having joined Lyon in 2009, aged only 12.
Overall, the team is packed with stars, but intriguingly some of their most talented players have been loaned to OL Reign of late, after Lyon’s parent company took control of the American club in 2020.
Lyon Women Rivals
If anyone is going to break Lyon’s domestic stranglehold, then it may be the club that leaves others in their wake in the men’s version of the game, Paris Saint-Germain.
PSG Feminine have markedly improved in recent years and justifiably felt very hard done by when losing out on the 2020/21 title, after the season was suspended in March 2021.
The placings at the time were used as the final table, with Lyon three points clear, but with PSG still to play away from home.
A closer league title suggested that the gap may be narrowing, as further evidenced by Lyon needing penalties to beat PSG in the 2021 Coupe De France final.
And so it proved in the 2020/21 season, with PSG securing their first ever title in the women’s game, holding off the challenge of Lyon by a single point.
With both teams starting the 2021/22 season on fire, it seems a true rivalry has emerged in the sport, with Ligue 1 odds suggesting another closely fought title race.
Pertinently, PSG also ended Lyon’s grip on the Champions League in 2021 with a quarter-final victory and it seems Lyon have some true competition in future years should they wish to replicate past successes and remain one of the best women’s football teams in the world.
FIRST PUBLISHED: 8th November 2021
