[5] The club's first manager was Oscar Heisserer and, on 26 August 1950, played its first official match defeating CA Paris-Charenton 3–0 in front of 3,000 supporters.

Lyon achieved moderate success during the 1960s and 1970s with the likes of Fleury Di Nallo, Néstor Combin, Serge Chiesa, Bernard Lacombe and Jean Djorkaeff playing major roles.

Under manager Lucien Jasseron, Lyon won its first-ever Coupe de France title defeating Bordeaux 2–0 during the 1963–64 season.

His replacement was Louis Hon, who helped Lyon win their second Coupe de France title after defeating Sochaux 3–1 during the 1966–67 season.

His ambitious plan, titled OL – Europe, was designed to develop the club at the European level and back into the first division within a period of no more than four years.

The aspiring chairman gave Domenech carte blanche to recruit whoever he saw fit to help the team reach the first division.

Domenech was replaced by former French international Jean Tigana, who led the team to an impressive second place in the 1994–95 season.

Notable examples include Michael Essien, Florent Malouda, Sidney Govou, Juninho, Cris, Eric Abidal, Mahamadou Diarra, Patrick Müller and Karim Benzema.

Lyon's streak and consistent dominance of French football came to an end during the 2008–09 season, when it lost the title to Bordeaux.

[7] OL announced in December 2019 that it would buy an 89.5% stake in the U.S. National Women's Soccer League team known at the time as Reign FC.

Lyon also reached the final of the Coupe de la Ligue, however, they eventually lost to Paris Saint-Germain 6–5 on penalties.

In the Champions League, Lyon were more successful, defeating Juventus in the round of 16 and Manchester City in the quarter-final to reach the semi-finals for the first time in 10 years.

[16] With the club last in the Ligue 1 table, the team's management announced at the end of November 2023 that Grosso was fired after being in charge for just seven games.

He serves as the founder and chief operating officer of CEGID (Compagnie Européenne de Gestion par l'Informatique Décentralisée).

During this period, the club's holding company operated on the European Stock Exchange under the name OL Groupe, initialled OLG.

[27] On 13 July 2023, Frenchman Santiago Cucci was named to become the new interim executive president of OL Groupe, but later ressigned in November.

In 1910, the mayor of Lyon, Édouard Herriot, came up with the idea to develop and build a sports stadium with an athletics track and a velodrome in the city.

Olympique Lyonnais beat Troyes 4–1 with goals from Alexandre Lacazette, Rachid Ghezzal, Jordan Ferri and Claudio Beauvue.

These include Karim Benzema, Hatem Ben Arfa, Sidney Govou, Alexandre Lacazette, Samuel Umtiti and Ludovic Giuly.

[39] After six years, the club returned to the all-white uniforms, but kept intact the red and blue stripes, but, instead of keeping them horizontally, inserted them vertically and on the left side of the shirt.

The Bad Gones is the biggest group of supporters in France and have a very strong reputation in Europe, due to the club's control of Ligue 1, as well as Lyon's continued appearances in the UEFA Champions League.

The Moroccan-born French midfielder Serge Chiesa holds Lyon overall appearance record having played in 541 matches over the course of 14 seasons from 1969 to 1983.

The Arpitan rivalry stems simply from the close proximity of the clubs to each other, separated by just 61 kilometres (38 mi), as well as historical social and cultural difference between the two cities where they are based; Lyon traditionally cited as being a financially comfortable and middle class city, while Saint-Étienne is traditionally regarded as being more industrial and working-class.

The derby, often called Choc des Olympiques ("Clash of the Olympics") or Olympico, is often cited as being particularly important as both clubs are of high standard in French football and the championship is regularly decided between the two.

[45] Following the 2008–09 season, Lyon's long-term sponsorship agreement with the French multinational corporation Accor and Lyon-based Renault Trucks ended.

On 22 July 2009, the Paris-based online bookmaker BetClic reached an agreement with Lyon to advertise on the club's kits.

However, due to French law prohibiting online gambling, Lyon could not wear its kits displaying the logo.

[46] Lyon complied and, since the Le Mans match, wore sponsorless shirts while playing on French soil.

In August 2012, the club agreed a two-year sponsorship deal with Korean car manufacturers Hyundai that would start in 2012–13 season, replacing BetClic as the main sponsor in their shirts for Ligue 1 matches.

They mostly play their home games at Groupama OL Training Center, 200 metres from Parc Olympique Lyonnais, the main stadium.