Did You Know? European Women's Football: Olympique Lyonnais

Despite strikes on the French railway system, I managed to get to the Olympique Lyonnais in time for the semi-final matchup against Umea IK on April 10th. I was fortunate to receive comp (free) tickets to the match, but for the average person it was only 5 Euros. The security treated this very similar to any other OL match at the famed Stade de Gerland. The women rarely play in the men’s stadium, but put it in perspective. It may be the only women’s team to play a non-final match in a men’s Champions League team stadium. Ever. We walked up into the reserved section…

The current title of my group master’s project, “Benchmarking Best Practice in Women’s Football: Case Studies in European clubs” Hence, sometimes I struggle to have perspective on what may seem foreign to American soccer fans. European women’s football is currently my life, so begins my “Did You Know? European Women's Football” series. Every week, I’ll give you some context for what I am experiencing here in Europe concerning women’s football.

Olympique Lyonnais: Did you know?

Part 1: Olympique Lyonnais in a nutshell. The club is on the French stock exchange. Its considered one of the most financially-viable clubs in Europe. (Learn more about Europe’s current obsession with Financial Fair Play) Its 2009 annual was 129 million Euros. 10% of the French population support OL. In 2004, they added the women’s side.

Arriving at the stadium club, we were greeted by daper-looking attendants checking our tickets. Once in, a wide-variety of delicious food and beverages waited to be eaten. In true Lyonnais fashion, they had pulled out all the stops. food is an art if France; even at a women’s football match.

Did You Know? Part 2: The president of OL, Jean-Michel Aulas has been a strong supporter of the women’s side. This may or may not have contributed to the fact the women’s side is fully integrated into their website, OLTV (own tv channel) highlight shows, and have managed to win the Division 1 Feminine title the last 3 years. Normally they play in a 2.2K person stadium adjacent to the men’s, Plaine des Jeux de Gerland, and averaging in league games around 250-300 fans.

Sitting down in one of the most famous stadium in Europe, it still seemed full of fan. I guessed correctly, almost 5,000 OL supporters had come to watch the exciting game. It was a mix of families, young adults (both men and women), and official-looking OL senior citizens. But the biggest point of interest, everyone watched the match the whole time. Whistled for bad offsides calls or missed fouls. Cheered for goals or good dribbling skills.

Did You Know? Part 3: Mostly thanks to the controversy concerning French National Team Players, Necib, Abily, and Bompastor, the French Football Federation instituted this rule in 2009, from the Financial Statements of OL (public information, btw):

As of 1 July 2009, the French Football Federation instituted a new status, "federation player", for women footballers. Starting with the 2009/10 season, the Club will therefore be able to pay the players on the women's team.

Maybe you are not familiar with the statues of FIFA but they essentially say, a professional player “is a player who has a written contract with a club and is paid more than the expenses he effectively incurs in return for his footballing activity” This is very interesting for women’s football, because in the case of Abily, Necib, and Bompastor, before they were conferred professional status by the FFF, they were considered amateurs because they were not paid more than their expenses… For women’s football, this statute will continue to be a hot topic that not many are aware of.

OL dominated but only came away with a 3-2 win. A particular name to watch out for, Corine Franco playing at right back, and no surprise Louisa Necib was given a serious look by the Washington Freedom. She tried (and almost successfully) to win the game by dribbling through numerous players. A few UEFA officials were on-hand, and in true Swiss-style, they remained completely neutral. I believe either the OL president or the head coach of the men’s side was there as well, but to be honest, I couldn’t tell you what they look like!

Olympique Lyonnais men and women made it to the semi-finals of their respective UEFA Champions league. Will one of them or both hold up the trophies this year?

Did You Know? Tidbit: According to one Swedish players Tweet, before it had to be cancelled due to the disruption of airtravel, the friendly between Germany and Sweden had already sold 16,000 tickets!

Out of Bounds (This is where I go completely off topic but have to bring up this item): So this slipped by me, but FIFA is expanding the 2015 WWC to 24 teams. At the time, Chile (who excellently hosted the U20WWC) and Canada were front-runners. Since then Chile has had major infrastructure damage to their entire country, including their stadiums. If Chile had been named host and the earthquake happened afterward, could we have seen another WWC03 scenario with China? Does this guarantee Canada's chances? Does Mother Nature just prefer basketball or something?

Must-Read Articles (every week, I’ll give you few quality articles I’ve found in my research):

The nerdiest of them all: Check out the new England women’s Super League Club Development Documents, under “Related Links” on the right hand side.

What’s your opinion on this article from FIFA.com: “Eye-catching girls enhance allure”

If that article makes you question FIFA at all (or not), do read these two new articles on the April 2010 edition of FIFA World. Well-written, and very interesting concerning clubs like OL or FC Zurich.