Olympique Lyonnais: a successful example of the evolution of women’s football
OK, the timing of this article is not the best, as the Olympique Lyonnais (OL) women’s team has just been knocked out of the quarter final of the Champions League… but at least it was against another French team (PSG)!
On top of that, the English Super League (SPL) has just signed the biggest domestic TV deal with BBC and Sky Sports for a professional women’s soccer league. This will bring more financial resources to English teams, making it tougher for OL to remain the best European team in the long term.
Nonetheless, OL is considered to be the most dominant team in women’s soccer history — and maybe even in sport history, according to the New York Times.
Their uncountable triumphs include winning the five last Champions League titles — equalling the record held by the men’s team at Real Madrid, as well as the domestic league for the last fourteen seasons, which is a world record in any sport. In addition, the team holds the Guinness world record for the most consecutive victories in all competitions: 41 wins (from 28 April 2012 to 18 May 2013).
As women’s soccer is still developing in Europe, and since several teams are now trying to follow the steps of OL’s story, we will focus on when and how OL became such an incredible team.
Kick-off: The ascension of women’s soccer
1970 is an important year for OL, and for French women’s football. Why?
Firstly, on March 29, 1970, the French Football Federation (FFF) recognized women’s soccer, making it accessible to all women in France. At a similar time, women’s soccer was developing considerably in the Lyon region. This is marked by the creation of the women’s section of FC Lyon in 1970 … who then became Olympique Lyonnais Féminin in 2004!
In addition to this, OL had already shown an interest in women’s football, as they invited a regional women’s team, Sainte-Foy lès Lyon, to play at their stadium, as a curtain raiser to OL vs. Bordeaux, on February 15, 1970.
But 2004 marks the real beginning of Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, when the women’s section of FC Lyon, created in 1970, became part of the Olympique Lyonnais Group. The team had had some success — they claimed four league titles between 1991 and 1998. However, they brought this to another level after joining Olympique Lyonnais: the women’s section has since won the domestic league 14 times, the Coupe de France 9 times, and the Champions League 7 times.
I know what you are thinking…. How on earth did they win so many trophies in such a short time?
The beautiful game: How OL became one of the best teams in sport history
This success can partially be credited to OL’s’ President, Jean-Michel Aulas, who has been committed to gender equality in sport since creating Olympique Lyonnais Féminin in 2004. He wanted to bring as much success to the female team as to the male one (which was ambitious knowing that the male team won the domestic title 7 times consecutively between 2002 and 2008)!
To make OL one of the best teams in the history of sport, Jean-Michel Aulas significantly invested in the team to attract the best players (even Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan used to play for OL) with salaries that were higher than those in other women’s teams. For instance, Norway’s Ada Hegerberg, who received sport’s first Ballon d’Or for women in 2018, is believed to have an annual salary of around $500,000.
In addition, OL womens’ teams from the young categories are given access to first class training facilities. This combination of professional resources, the facilities, and the best players brought together helped to create the perfect training environment. Therefore, it is not surprising that rising stars like Delphine Cascarino come from OL’s training center, similarly to male players in the past, such as Karim Benzema.
The final whistle
Financial investment and top-quality training conditions were a game changer for the OL women’s team. But their success is also thanks to Jean-Michel Aulas’ visionary mindset. He is still working towards OL’s success today, despite the increasingly fierce competition both nationally (from PSG) and internationally.
For instance, OL Group’s takeover of Reign FC, becoming OL Reign, is bringing the club to the US, a country which has contributed a great deal to women’s soccer. Something tells me that OL’s success story in women’s soccer is only just beginning….
Extra time: If you want to go further…
To learn more about the origins of OL’s success, I highly recommend these two documentaries:
- Les joueuses #paslàpourdanser, by Stéphanie Gillard, showing the everyday life of Lyon’s professional players
- Lionnes, by Marc Sauvourel, showing the daily life of four teenagers of Lyon’s region passionate about football, and Amel Majri, OL’s player
The documentaries are recorded in French, but some players speak English in the first one — and the clips speak for themselves!
