Lyon women's swift rise
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Article summary
Olympique Lyonnais have taken only three years to emulate their men's team and become French champions and their strong squad have their sights set on Europe.
Article body
With the second qualifying round of the UEFA Women's Cup starting next month, uefa.com is taking a detailed look at each of the 16 clubs looking to progress to the quarter-finals and beyond. Today, tournament debutant Olympique Lyonnais, who have swiftly built an all-star team.
It took Olympique Lyonnais more than 50 years to win the French men's title. Their female team managed it in three and already have their sights set on a first European crown. Lyon set up their female section in 2004 when club president Jean-Michel Aulas set up a partnership with FC Lyon Féminin, who had been going since 1958 and been champions in 1997/98. Ex-Lyon player Farid Benstiti was appointed coach having been at the predecessor club since retiring in 2001.
French frist
The new team finished third in their first two seasons, at which point their budget was increased with immediate results. For 2006/07, France regulars Hoda Lattaf, Sonia Bompastor and Camille Abily were signed from UEFA Women's Cup semi-finalists Montpellier HSC along with Brazilian internationals Simone and Katia, and Lyon romped to the title, dropping just five points in 22 games, scoring 116 goals and conceding only nine. Sandrine Brétigny was league top scorer with 42 goals goals and Abily retained her title as players' player of the season. It was the first time in any French team sport that the same club had won male and female titles in the same campaign.
Ambition
Set for a UEFA Women's Cup debut, Lyon further strengthened their squad with two of the most promising France players, Elodie Thomis and Louisa Nécib, plus highly-rated Laura Georges, back from a successful spell at Boston College in the United States. Two France goalkeepers also joined, senior Véronique Pons and Under-19 custodian Emmeline Mainguy. All in all, 17 of the 23-strong squad are internationals, with Lyon able to attract players with jobs at OL Groupe, the public company that owns the club.
European bow
They immediately proved themselves on the European stage, scoring 29 goals without reply in their three-game first qualifying round mini-tournament in August in F.Y.R. Macedonia as they saw off Slovakia's FK Slovan Duslo Sala 12-0, home team ZFK Skiponjat 10-0 and ZNK SFK 2000 Sarajevo 7-0. It bore out Aulas's words during the 2006/07 championship celebrations when he said: "We are trying to build a team with the aim of winning the UEFA Women's Cup."
