OL rule OK
Lyon are the undisputed dominant force in the
European women’s club game. Glenn Moore reports
T
he most dominant team
in world sport is not rugby
union’s All Blacks, gridiron’s
New England Patriots or
Europe’s Ryder Cup golfers. Rather, it
is the female footballers of Olympique
Lyonnais. Should Gianni Infantino
succeed in getting his Women’s Club
World Cup off the ground, there is no
doubt who would start the hottest of
hot favourites.
At home, Lyon’s rule has been
absolute for almost a decade. Of the
last 200 matches that OL have played
in Ligue 1 Feminine prior to this season- a run stretching back to 2010 – they
have won 189, drawn nine and lost two,
both to Paris Saint-Germain.
PSG are also the only team to beat
Lyon in the Coupe de France in this
period, in the 2018 Final, though Lyon
did lose on penalties to Juvisy in 2011.
Dominating a national league is not
that uncommon – Juventus’ men have
won the last eight Serie A titles – but
sustaining hegemony over a continent
is rare. Lyon, however, have won six of
the last nine UEFA Women’s Champions
Leagues, including the last four in a row.
During these four campaigns they have
scored 139 goals and conceded just 16.
They were last knocked out, by PSG, on
away goals in 2014-15.
During this period, Lyon have been
blessed with many great players, from
the best of France in Louisa Necib,
Amandine Henry and Wendie Renard,
to outstanding foreign recruits such
as Lotta Schelin, Dzsenifer Marozsan
and Ada Hegerberg. But the person
most responsible is a 70-year-old
businessman Jean-Michel Aulas, who
made his fortune in computer-softwareCLUB PROFILE
“The perfect model of
how to run a modern club”
Ada Hegerberg