Olympique Lyonnais

A commitment to gender equality, massive wages and an eternal search for excellence: how Olympique Lyonnais turned their women’s team into a virtual dynasty

• Lyon President Jean-Michel Aulas was ahead of his time in 2004 when he transferred substantial financial resources to the launch of Olympique Lyonnais’ women’s team to kickstart a new era for women’s football.

• Setting a new agenda for gender equality within football, the Olympique Lyonnais women’s team today enjoy the same facilities as their male colleagues.

• Thanks to an impressive EUR 10 million budget, Olympique Lyonnais are aiming to win their 15th French title in the season to come.

In July 2017, French sports paper L’Équipe published a creative cartoon in connection with their coverage of Alexandre Lacazette’s transfer from Olympique Lyonnais to Arsenal. In the cartoon, Lacazette is about to undergo his medical in London, when the doctor asks: “Which club do you come from?” to which Lacazette replies: “Lyon”. Reacting with great surprise, the doctor says: “I didn’t realise they had a men’s team.”

The cartoon is testament to the dynasty that Olympique Lyonnais President Jean-Michel Aulas has managed to build in France’s third-largest city. Previously, Lyon, which lies some 200 miles south of the French capital, was mostly known for incredible restaurants, its amazing annual lights festival and several UNESCO World Heritage Sites. But now, the erstwhile capital of the Gauls has become synonymous with the home of perhaps the world’s most successful women’s club.

The team were launched in 2004 as Olympique Lyonnais’ President Aulas took a huge gamble and invested heavily in the women’s team, as the first major club in the world to do so and before many top clubs such as Juventus and FC Barcelona followed suit. It was a revolutionary and unprecedented move that was to pave the way for an explosive development within women´s football. Part of the strategy was to pay top female performers high-end salaries and, more importantly, to treat the women’s team in the same way as the men’s team.

“Within men’s football there was a huge resistance, inside clubs, inside the association and in society in a general sense,” Aulas told the UK’s The Guardian newspaper.

“I thought I had to take responsibility and proceed with those changes.”

But Aulas, who built his fortune at Cegid, a company specialising in the development of management and accounting software, did not just show his commitment by pumping financial resources into the side. He also fostered a unique relationship with the players.

“It’s very important, especially for high-level players, that if you are going to expect a lot from them then you should also offer a lot. And, in that sense, the investment off the pitch is promoted through their accomplishments,” Aulas said.

So, while the financial support is there for everyone to see, the abstract and social support is also very evident at Olympique Lyonnais, with Aulas being present at as many women’s matches as men’s matches.

Today, the men’s and women’s teams are put through their paces at the same training ground, and they enjoy the same facilities in terms of medical staff, liaison officers, mental coaches, and other areas – all the way from the academy to the senior teams. Other big clubs are gradually starting to show the same degree of commitment to gender equality, but it was Olympique Lyonnais who originally kickstarted a new approach within the set-up for the women’s team for others to follow.

Olympique Lyonnais take it as far as chartering private jets for their women’s team for European away fixtures and offer the full VIP treatment in and out of airports.

The effect of Aulas’ financial, social and egalitarian commitment has been immense. In the last decade, Olympique Lyonnais have enjoyed countless victories and maintained their goal difference close to 1,000. The New York Times has called Olympique Lyonnais the equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters, a team that never lose. In their short history, the trophy cabinet is growing at the same pace as the list of illustrious names which have been added to their squad. And today, Olympique Lyonnais can already boast of having won the French title no fewer than 14 times, the French Cup eight times and the UEFA Champions League an astonishing seven times.

Olympique Lyonnais offer their players salaries of up to six figures and, last season, coach Sonia Compastor had the luxury of building a squad from a budget of around EUR 10 million – twice as much as most other clubs are able to offer. Olympique Lyonnais have built a squad which has featured world star performers like Dzsenifer Marozsán, Saki Kumagai, Lucy Bronze and Wendie Renard, not to mention a former winner of The Best FIFA Women’s Player award, Ada Hegerberg.

But such players do not join Olympique Lyonnais to simply add extra zeros to their bank balances. They go there because there is a self-sustaining emphasis on fostering continuous improvement. Olympique Lyonnais have managed to provide conditions for their female players to enjoy the same respect as their male colleagues, set up a perfect training environment and encourage an excellence-seeking climate around the club.