Why the World’s Most Successful Women’s Sports Team Dropped ‘Women’ From Its Name

Olympique Lyonnais Féminin is no more. 

Instead, the most successful club in women’s soccer will now be called “OL Lyonnes.” The decision to remove Féminin from the name, which also comes with a new crest, was an intentional commitment to giving the team a separate identity from the men’s team, which is named “Olympique Lyonnais” but is commonly called just “Lyon.”

“Lyonnes” is a hybrid of the French word for “lioness” and the city of Lyon.

“We wanted to emphasize that lionesses are different than lions,” owner Michele Kang said at a press conference Monday.

The team has been perhaps the most dominant in all of professional sports. It has won 18 of the last 19 French titles, and eight Champions League titles since 2010. USWNT captain Lindsey Heaps led the French league in assists this year for OL Lyonnes. 

Kang bought the team in 2023. She also owns the NWSL’s Washington Spirit.

Included with the new name is a new crest that will debut for the 2025–26 season and features a roaring lioness, which Kang said was emblematic of the players in the heat of competition. Kang and OL Lyonnes general manager Vincent Ponsot also announced a dedicated performance center for the team that will be intentionally designed for women athletes. 

OL Lyonnes will move from its current training center on the OL Lyonnais campus to a facility in Meyzieu, France—a few miles away—where the youth boys academy trains. The academy players will be on the same campus as the OL Lyonnais men’s first team. 

The new women’s training center is being designed by F3, the architects who worked on the Tottenham Hotspur men’s and women’s training centers in London.

“I’m told by people who have seen previews that by the time this is done not only is this the first in Europe, but it will be better than most men’s teams’ training centers,” Kang said. 

Kang concluded her Monday morning announcement with news that the team will also be playing all of its home games at the 59,000-seat Groupama Stadium. The team played home games at a variety of stadiums in 2024–25, including games outside of Lyon and at the team’s training facility.

The team’s permanent move to Groupama Stadium for the upcoming season makes them the first women’s soccer team in Europe to play all of their matches in a flagship stadium. 

“Not only do our players deserve to play in the best playing environment, our fans deserve that,” Kang said Monday.