It’s the end of a story that spanned 36 years. On Monday May 8, Olympique Lyonnais announced that its emblematic president, Jean-Michel Aulas, now 74, was leaving his place as CEO of OL Groupe to American John Textor. The latter had bought the club last December.
“At its meeting held on May 5, the OL Groupe Board of Directors appointed John Textor as Chairman of the Board of Directors […] following the termination of Mr. Jean-Michel Aulas’ duties as CEO of OL Groupe,” the club said in a statement. “Mr. Textor has also been appointed as General Manager of OL Groupe from May 5 for an interim period, the time to identify and appoint a new General Manager”, added OL.
The club clarified that Jean-Michel Aulas would be “appointed honorary president” and should remain executive chairman on a three-year contract after the club was taken over.
However, disagreements on the sports policy to be pursued quickly appeared with the team of the ambitious American investor, already present in the capital of Crystal Palace, a team in the English Premier League and Botafogo, leader of the Brazilian Serie A.
Jean-Michel Aulas took control of Olympique Lyonnais in June 1987 when the team had been languishing in the 2nd division for four years. With him at its head, OL regained the European Cup and obtained seven consecutive French championship titles from 2002 to 2008, won the Coupe de la Ligue in 2001 and the Coupe de France in 2008 and 2012. This title is the last won by Lyon.
Under the mandate of “JMA”, the women’s team was also created. In total, more than fifty titles have been won by OL with Mr. Aulas under his management, allowing Lyon to become a stronghold of European football.
