Being a woman and playing for Olympique Lyonnais: A tentative historical overview of an atypical soccer club

While Olympique Lyonnais women footballers have an unrivalled sporting record (16 times French champions, 9 times French Cup winners and 8 times UEFA Champions League winners), they remain in the shadow of men, particularly in terms of literary and scientific production. Inspired by the contributions of micro-history, the biographical approach and gender studies, the article investigates a “hidden face” of Olympique Lyonnais via the life stories of seven of the club’s female players between 2000 and 2019, and analysis of the local newspaper Le Progrès and the national sports newspaper L’Équipe between 2004 and 2010. Looking back at the conditions of women’s integration into the OL in 2004 and their sporting progression towards excellence, the article shows how the improvement in material conditions for practice, thanks to the commitment of an allied president, fuels both the production of sporting performances and the recognition of athletes. However, this virtuous circle remains, on the one hand, relatively exceptional in the world of women’s soccer in France and, on the other hand, limited, because although they are dominant in the world of women’s soccer, they are nonetheless dominated in the world of professional soccer. Thus, their stories bear witness to the paradoxical status of being privileged in the women’s arena and, at the same time, dominated in the global soccer arena. The players themselves incorporate this gender order when they analyze their trajectories in terms of gift rather than merit, in terms of opportunities rather than right.