Olympique Lyonnais
Also written as Lyon.
The club
Olympique Lyonnais, universally OL, date themselves to 1899 and have played in the French top flight continuously since 1989; 2026/27 is their 38th consecutive Ligue 1 season and the 77th in the club's history. The nickname is Les Gones, roughly the Kids, from Lyonnais dialect. The colours are red, white and blue.
The ground is the Parc Olympique Lyonnais at Décines-Charpieu on the eastern edge of Lyon, known commercially as the Groupama Stadium, capacity 59,186. It opened in 2016 and replaced the Stade de Gerland.
The president is the American businesswoman Michele Kang, whose vehicle Olympe Bidco holds 87.8 per cent of the club. The head coach is the Portuguese Paulo Fonseca.
Recent seasons
Lyon finished sixth in Ligue 1 in 2023/24 under Pierre Sage and sixth again in 2024/25, Paulo Fonseca having taken over at the end of January 2025. In 2025/26 they were fourth with 60 points from 34 matches, 18 wins, 6 draws and 10 defeats, 53 goals scored and 40 conceded, behind Paris Saint-Germain, Lens and Lille. Fourth place is what put them into the Champions League third qualifying round rather than straight into the league phase.
Honours and landmarks
Lyon won seven consecutive Ligue 1 titles from 2001/02 to 2007/08, a French record that has not been matched. The 2008 title came with a double, the Coupe de France won 1-0 against Paris Saint-Germain with a Sidney Govou goal in the 102nd minute, in extra time. The last major trophy was the Coupe de France in 2012, a 1-0 win over Quevilly.
The full tally is seven Ligue 1 titles, five Coupes de France (1963/64, 1966/67, 1972/73, 2007/08 and 2011/12), one Coupe de la Ligue (2000/01), eight Trophées des Champions (1973, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2012) and three Ligue 2 titles. In Europe the only trophy is the UEFA Intertoto Cup of 1997; the best Champions League runs are the semi-finals of 2009/10 and 2019/20. The women's team is separately and far more decorated, with eighteen French league titles, ten French cups and eight European titles.
Notable scorelines
Lyon's record win and record defeat were not established from the sources read here. The most recent scoreline of note is the 3-0 win over Sparta Prague at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais on 11 August 2026, the club's largest result of the current season, in front of 51,494, which is also the season's highest attendance so far. The largest defeat of the current season is the 2-1 loss in Prague a week earlier.
European record
Lyon's European history is long and the article read here does not carry a full season-by-season table, so only the current campaign is set out in detail below. What can be stated is that Lyon are in the Champions League for 2026/27 by virtue of finishing fourth in Ligue 1, and that they entered at the third qualifying round of the League Path rather than the league phase.
2026/27, third qualifying round, League Path, against Sparta Prague. Lyon lost the first leg 2-1 at the Stadion Letná on 4 August 2026 in front of 17,515. Martin Suchomel put through his own net on the stroke of half time to give Lyon the lead, then Matej Rynes equalised on 63 minutes and John Mercado scored the winner on 69. Serdar Gözübüyük of the Netherlands refereed.
The return at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais on 11 August 2026 was won 3-0. Ernest Nuamah scored on 20 minutes, his first goal since March 2025 after a long injury, Ainsley Maitland-Niles added a second on 66 and Tyler Morton a third on 72. Sparta had Adam Sevinsky sent off in the 34th minute; the offence was not confirmed from the sources read here. Szymon Marciniak of Poland refereed, and Lyon went through 4-2 on aggregate.
Quotes
- "Je suis très content. Nos supporters ont été magnifiques, ils sont avec l'équipe. On a fait un bon match. Le Sparta a montré que c'était une bonne équipe, mais aujourd'hui, nous avons été supérieurs" - Paulo Fonseca, Lyon head coach, to OL Play, reported by Lyon Foot, 12 August 2026. https://www.lyonfoot.com/article/13895/ol-sparta-prague-aujourd-hui-nous-avons-ete-superieurs-savoure-paulo-fonseca - "Nous avons joué en supériorité numérique, le Sparta a changé pour évoluer avec une ligne de cinq, mais nous avons réussi à marquer. Tactiquement, on a bien fait les choses" - Paulo Fonseca, Lyon head coach, to OL Play, reported by Lyon Foot, 12 August 2026. https://www.lyonfoot.com/article/13895/ol-sparta-prague-aujourd-hui-nous-avons-ete-superieurs-savoure-paulo-fonseca - "On est très contents d'avoir remporté ce match et de s'être qualifiés. On avait à cœur de montrer un autre visage" - Corentin Tolisso, Lyon midfielder, to Lyon Foot, 12 August 2026. https://www.lyonfoot.com/article/13894/ol-sparta-prague-on-avait-a-coeur-de-montrer-un-autre-visage-savoure-corentin-tolisso - "C'est incroyable, au mois d'août, d'avoir un stade rempli comme ça. Ça nous a beaucoup aidés" - Corentin Tolisso, Lyon midfielder, to Lyon Foot, 12 August 2026. https://www.lyonfoot.com/article/13894/ol-sparta-prague-on-avait-a-coeur-de-montrer-un-autre-visage-savoure-corentin-tolisso
All four are reproduced as published in French. Fonseca's remarks were given to the club channel OL Play and carried by Lyon Foot; no English translation is claimed here, because the translation would not be the published wording.
Right now (2026/27)
Paulo Fonseca is the head coach and Michele Kang the president. Lyon are in the Champions League play-off round after beating Sparta Prague 4-2 on aggregate, and they face Fenerbahçe, away on 18 August 2026 and at home on 26 August. Under the current format, losing that tie sends Lyon into the Europa League league phase rather than out of Europe.
Ligue 1 has not started for Lyon. Their first league match of 2026/27 is on 22 August 2026, after the first leg in Istanbul.
Incomings this summer: Kaïl Boudache from Nice for a reported five million euros on 1 July, Mads Bidstrup from Red Bull Salzburg for 10.5 million on 1 July, Noham Kamara on loan with an option from Paris Saint-Germain valued at four million on 1 July, Julien Duranville from Borussia Dortmund for five million on 2 July, Mohamed Ouédraogo from Rheindorf Altach for 2.2 million on 3 July, Loïs Openda on loan from Juventus with a 3.5 million fee on 28 July, and the Austrian defender Felix Bacher from Estoril for 4.3 million on 2 August.
Outgoings: Afonso Moreira to Bayer Leverkusen for 33.6 million euros on 1 July, easily the biggest sale, Martín Satriano to Getafe for six million the same day, and Kenan Doganay to Leverkusen for 0.26 million on 10 July. Prince Mbatshi left free for Zlín. Matt Turner went back to New England Revolution on loan on 13 July. The loans of Endrick, who returned to Real Madrid, and Adam Karabec, who returned to Sparta Prague, both ended on 1 July; Karabec's parent club were the opponents in the qualifier.
Pre-season began at Décines-Charpieu on 29 June 2026 and was mixed: 5-2 against Mâcon 71 on 8 July, 6-3 against St Gallen on 11 July, 2-1 against Servette on 15 July, 2-0 down to Slavia Prague on 18 July, 2-0 up at Wolfsburg on 24 July, and a 4-0 defeat to Real Betis on 29 July.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympique_Lyonnais https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_Olympique_Lyonnais_season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_Ligue_1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:2025%E2%80%9326_Ligue_1_table https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Champions_League_qualifying https://www.lyonfoot.com/article/13884/ol-sparta-prague-lyon-a-parfaitement-renverse-la-vapeur-3-0 https://www.lyonfoot.com/article/13895/ol-sparta-prague-aujourd-hui-nous-avons-ete-superieurs-savoure-paulo-fonseca https://www.lyonfoot.com/article/13894/ol-sparta-prague-on-avait-a-coeur-de-montrer-un-autre-visage-savoure-corentin-tolisso https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Coupe_de_France_final https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/match/2049108 https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/match/2049118 https://worldfootballjourney.com/story/lyon/
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.