Olympique Lyonnais Reserves and Academy

Overview

The U-19 squad participates in their weekly league, the Championnat National U19, which is a league comprising four groups of fourteen clubs who play each other twice during the regular season. This session is dubbed Phase 1. Following the regular season, the four group winners are randomly selected to face each other in semi-final matches (dubbed Phase 2) to decide who will play each other in the Under-18 Championnat National championship match, usually held in Mayenne. There is also a third-place match, which is usually held just before the championship match. The Under-18 squad also regularly participates in the Coupe Gambardella. They have won the title on 4 occasions. They won the cup in 1971, 1994, 1997 and 2022.

The U-17 side participates in a league, the Championnat National U17, a youth league comprising six groups of twelve clubs who play each other twice during the regular season, dubbed Phase 1. Following the regular season, the six group winners and the two best second place clubs are randomly inserting into two groups of four, where they play each other at neutral venues once over a span of four days. This portion is dubbed Phase 2. The two winners of each group will then face each other in the championship match to determine the champion of the Under-17 Championnat National. The Under-17 squad also participates in regional cup competitions.

The current National 3 manager is Gueida Fofana, who played for Olympique Lyonnais before but had his career cut-short due to injuries. He has been the manager of Lyon's reserves team since 2019. The manager of the Olympique Lyonnais U-19s and U-17s are Samy Saci and Amaury Barlet.

Philosophy

According to Faouzi Djedou-Benabid, the scout for Niort and the co-author of Pourquoi le foot français va dans le mur (; 2015), published by Hugo Sport, the training provided in Olympique Lyonnais academy favors the technical learning of football over match results, like FC Barcelona: thus, "Lyon educators do not hesitate to have defenders play in midfield so that 'they can learn to use their feet better". In addition, the formation does not favor any pattern of play, allowing the players to adapt easily to all positions during the game.

As a result of this philosophy, since the 2010s, Lyon youth academy gained reputation all around Europe as being one of the top football academies in the continent, producing several players playing in European top tier competitions. Between 2012 and 2019, Lyon appears successively eight times in top 4 of the International Centre for Sports Studies list of the best football academies in Europe. Lyon was also rated by the French Football Federation as the best football academy in France for six seasons in a row, between 2013 and 2019.

In February 2014, L'Équipe writes that Olympique Lyonnais ranks second in terms of the number of players trained at the club and playing in the "five major European championships" (Germany, England, Spain, France and Italy) tied with Real Madrid, and the first being FC Barcelona. In 2015, France Football rated Lyon youth academy as one of the best in Europe, as it is used to feed the first team, and also having a pool of players with value on the transfer market, without this being in the heart of the club's policy. Indeed, the competition level in Lyon's youth team is very difficult for young players, they will regularly, voluntarily or not, emancipate themselves in other very young clubs. Just as regularly, a certain number of them manage to have a good national or international career such as Ludovic Giuly, Karim Benzema, Alexandre Lacazette, Samuel Umtiti, or Nabil Fekir.

Honours

• Championnat de France Amateurs: 7
  • Champions: 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011
• Championnat National U17: 4
  • Champions: 1994, 2000, 2004, 2014
• Championnat National U19: 3
  • Champions: 1993, 2000, 2005
• Coupe Gambardella: 4
  • Champions: 1971, 1994, 1997, 2022
  • Finalists: 1970, 1992, 2005, 2006, 2015
• Coupe Nationale U16 (with Rhône-Alpes): 2
  • Champions: 1960, 1996
• French Division 3: 1
  • Champions: 1993
• Montaigu Tournament: 2
  • Champions: 2000, 2004
• Premier League International Cup
  • Finalists: 2024–25

Current squad

Reserve squad (Olympique Lyonnais II)

As of 8 September 2025

U19 squad

U17 squad

Staff

:As of 1 July 2025

Notable alumni

Many players from Lyon's youth system have managed to reach the professional level in football, whether at Lyon or at other clubs. As of June 2025, 37 players formed in the Lyon academy had capped for the France national football team. Below is a non-exhaustive list of notable players who trained in the youth or reserve teams of Olympique Lyonnais:

France

• FRA Loïc Abenzoar
• FRA Ghislain Anselmini
• FRA Leeroy Anton
• FRA Marcel Aubour
• FRA Jérémy Aymes
• FRA Kamal Bafounta
• FRA Farès Bahlouli
• FRA Mohamed Bahlouli
• FRA Florent Balmont
• FRA Bradley Barcola
• FRA Melvin Bard
• FRA Cédric Bardon
• FRA Xavier Barrau
• FRA Christian Bassila
• FRA Karim Belhocine
• FRA Olivier Bellisi
• FRA Nicolas Belvito
• FRA Hatem Ben Arfa
• FRA Mourad Benhamida
• FRA Farid Benstiti
• FRA Karim Benzema
• FRA Bryan Bergougnoux
• GLP Olivier Bernard
• FRA Jérémy Berthod
• FRA Grégory Bettiol
• FRA Romain Beynié
• FRA Maxime Blanc
• GUF Kayne Bonnevie
• FRA Gilbert Bonvin
• FRA Pierre Bouby
• FRA Jérémie Bréchet
• FRA Anthony Briançon
• FRA Maxence Caqueret
• FRA Alexis Carra
• FRA Maxime Cassara
• FRA Alain Caveglia
• FRA Johann Charpenet
• FRA Mickael Charvet
• FRA Yves Chauveau
• FRA Xavier Chavalerin
• FRA Rayan Cherki
• FRA François Clerc
• FRA Jérémy Clément
• FRA Timothé Cognat
• FRA Renaud Cohade
• FRA Mickaël Colloredo
• FRA Néstor Combin
• FRA Gilles Constantinian
• FRA Yoann Court
• FRA Laurent Courtois
• FRA Florent Da Silva
• FRA Andrea Damiani
• FRA Stéphane Darbion
• FRA Maxime D'Arpino
• FRA Fabien Debec
• FRA Laurent Debrosse
• FRA Romain Dedola
• FRA Romain Del Castillo
• FRA Sylvain Deplace
• FRA Jean-Christophe Devaux
• FRA Fleury Di Nallo
• FRA Yohan Di Tommaso
• FRA Jean Djorkaeff
• FRA Raymond Domenech
• MAF Belony Dumas
• FRA Jean-Philippe Durand
• FRA Franck Durix
• FRA Alan Dzabana
• FRA Yann Ekra
• FRA Mohamed El Arouch
• FRA Stephen Ettien
• FRA Sébastien Faure
• FRA Julien Faussurier
• FRA Nabil Fekir
• FRA Yassin Fekir
• FRA Jordan Ferri
• FRA Fabrice Fiorèse
• FRA Maxence Flachez
• FRA Sébastien Flochon
• FRA Laurent Fournier
• FRA Pascal Fugier
• FRA Rémi Garde
• FRA Bruno Génésio
• FRA Alexis Genet
• FRA Guy Genet
• FRA Gaël Genevier
• FRA Willem Geubbels
• FRA Ludovic Giuly
• FRA Yohan Gomez
• FRA Anthony Gomez Mancini
• FRA Maxime Gonalons
• FRA Mathieu Gorgelin
• FRA Hérold Goulon
• FRA Sidney Govou
• FRA Fabrice Grange
• FRA Clément Grenier
• FRA Sébastien Grimaldi
• FRA Malo Gusto
• MTQ Joan Hartock
• FRA Alexandre Hauw
• FRA David Hellebuyck
• FRA Kévin Jacmot
• FRA Warren Jacmot
• FRA Joris Jehan
• FRA Franck Jurietti
• FRA Joseph Kalulu
• FRA Pierre Kalulu
• FRA Timothée Kolodziejczak
• FRA Billy Koumetio
• FRA Zakarie Labidi
• FRA Alexandre Lacazette
• FRA Bernard Lacombe
• FRA Guillaume Lacour
• FRA Stéphane Lalaoui
• FRA Gérard Lanthier
• FRA Florent Laville
• FRA William Le Pogam
• FRA Sekou Lega
• FRA Esteban Lepaul
• FRA David Linarès
• FRA Cyriaque Louvion
• FRA Castello Lukeba
• FRA Steed Malbranque
• FRA Jérémy Manzorro
• FRA Yoann Martelat
• FRA Alexis Martial
• FRA Anthony Martial
• FRA Boris Mathis
• FRA Florent Marty
• FRA Florian Maurice
• FRA Jonathan Mendes
• FRA Amine Messoussa
• FRA Julian Michel
• FRA Enzo Molebe
• FRA Anthony Mounier
• FRA Théo Ndicka
• FRA Louis Nganioni
• FRA Bruno Ngotty
• MTQ Camille Ninel
• MTQ Robert Nouzaret
• MTQ Harry Novillo
• FRA Florent Ogier
• FRA Abdoulaye Ouattara
• FRA Sandy Paillot
• FRA Julian Palmieri
• FRA Mathieu Patouillet
• FRA Mour Paye
• FRA Pascal Pédemonte
• FRA Florent Perradin
• FRA Gaëtan Perrin

• FRA Jacques Philip
• FRA Jérémy Pied
• FRA Lenny Pintor
• FRA Alassane Pléa
• FRA Damien Plessis
• FRA Nicolas Priet
• FRA Grégoire Puel
• FRA Paulin Puel
• FRA Nicolas Puydebois
• FRA Nicolas Rabuel
• FRA Daniel Ravier
• FRA Enzo Reale
• FRA Loïc Rémy
• FRA Gwenaël Renaud
• FRA Remy Riou
• FRA Claude-Arnaud Rivenet
• FRA Thomas Robinet
• FRA Mickaël Rol
• FRA Mathieu Salamand
• FRA Junior Sambia
• FRA Mamadou Sarr

• FRA Romain Sartre
• FRA Ernest Schultz
• FRA Nicolas Seguin
• FRA Yoan Severin
• FRA Stéphane Solomenko
• FRA Yaya Soumaré
• FRA Julien Stephan
• FRA Éric Taborda
• FRA Kevin Tapoko
• FRA Hermann Tebily
• FRA Titouan Thomas
• FRA Corentin Tolisso
• FRA Johann Truchet
• FRA Marvin Tshibuabua
• FRA Samuel Umtiti
• FRA Cédric Uras
• FRA Pierrick Valdivia
• FRA Julien Viale
• FRA Roland Vieira
• FRA Hugo Vogel
• FRA Daniel Xuereb
• FRA Yoan Zouma

Africa

• ALG Oussama Amar
• ALG Houssem Aouar
• ALG Ishak Belfodil
• ALG Yassine Benzia
• ALG Yassine Ben Hamed
• ALG Abdelkader Ghezzal
• ALG Rachid Ghezzal
• ALG Amine Gouiri
• ALG Yacine Hima
• ALG Khaled Kharroubi
• ALG Yannis Lagha
• ALG Khaled Lemmouchia
• ALG Karim Maroc
• ALG Saïd Mehamha
• ALG Yannis Tafer
• ALG Hussayn Touati
• ALG Mehdi Zeffane
• ALG Nassim Zitouni
• ANG Jordy Gaspar
• BFA Nassim Innocenti
• BFA Vincent Ye
• CHA Blaise Tohou
• CGO Yann Mabella
• CIV Sinaly Diomandé
• CIV Lossémy Karaboué
• CIV Éric Tié Bi

• CMR Raphaël Anaba
• CMR Romarin Billong
• CMR Joseph-Désiré Job
• CMR Olivier Kemen
• CMR Philippe N'Dioro
• CMR Clinton N'Jie
• COM Nasser Chamed
• COM Moussa Djoumoi
• COM Myziane Maolida
• COM Faiz Mattoir
• CTA Cyriaque Mayounga
• CTA Dylan Mboumbouni
• CTA Amos Youga
• CTA Kelly Youga
• DRC Aldo Kalulu
• DRC Gédéon Kalulu
• DRC Yann Kitala
• DRC Samuel Moutoussamy
• GAB Bryan Meyo
• GHA Emmanuel Danso
• GHA Elisha Owusu
• GUI Mouctar Diakhaby
• GUI Sekou Yansané
• GUI Mohamed Yattara
• GNB Formose Mendy
• MAD Fabien Boyer
• MAD Thomas Fontaine
• MAR Jamal Alioui
• MAR Achraf Laâziri
• MAR Fahd Moufi
• MAR Kays Ruiz-Atil
• MLI Issiar Dramé
• MLI Frédéric Kanouté
• MLI Habib Keïta
• MLI Sidy Koné
• RWA Bryan Ngwabije
• SEN Lamine Gassama
• SEN Abdoulaye Ndiaye
• SEN Bouna Sarr
• SEN Mouhamadou-Naby Sarr
• SEN Demba Touré
• TCD Sylvain Idangar
• TOG Ludovic Assemoassa
• TOG Malcolm Barcola
• TUN Anice Badri
• TUN Chaïm El Djebali
• TUN Habib Oueslati
• TUN Hamza Rafia

Rest of World

• ARE Hamdan Al Kamali
• BEL Théo Defourny
• BEL Héritier Deyonge
• BIH Muamer Aljic
• BRA Camilo
• CAN Zachary Brault-Guillard
• CHE Jérémy Frick
• CHE Kilian Pagliuca
• CHE Anthony Racioppi
• CHN Jian Tao
• CHN Yu Junwei
• CHN Zhang Xiuwei
• CRO Teo Barišić
• ENG Alejandro Gomes Rodriguez
• ENG Reo Griffiths
• GEO Aleksandre Guruli
• GEO Georges Mikautadze
• ISR Noam Bonnet
• ITA Francesco Migliore
• KOR Kim Shin
• LIB Philippe Paoli
• LUX Christopher Martins Pereira
• NOR Ulrik Yttergård Jenssen
• NOR Tord Salte
• POL Bartosz Talar
• POR Mathys De Carvalho
• POR Anthony Lopes
• THA Erawan Garnier
• TUR Cenk Özkaçar

Players in bold are those who capped for their National team.

Alumni in [[France national football team]]

The following table shows the current list of Olympique Lyonnais-trained players in the French national team as of 9 September 2025, along with their year of birth, number of caps, and the corresponding period. Players whose international careers are still in progress are shown in bold type.

References

References

1. "According to Lyon's official website, it suggests that they consider this their foundation date rather than 1900 – (translation: "1950, date of the club's creation")". OLWeb.fr.
2. (28 June 2023). "Academy : Notre nouvelle organisation". Olympique Lyonnais.
3. "Football français : "L'incompétence est à tous les étages"". Le Point.
4. "The Talent Factory: How Lyon Built a Production Line for World-Class Talent". Bleacher Report.
5. "PRESENTATION D'OL ACADEMY". Olympique Lyonnais.
6. "OL : l’Équipe vante le deuxième centre de formation européen". L'Équipe.
7. "Lyon: La fabrique à champions". L'Équipe.
8. "Umtiti, Tolisso, Lacazette : une fierté lyonnaise". Le Libéro.
9. "RÉSERVE EFFECTIF & STAFF". OLWeb.fr.
10. (14 October 2023). "Aux Pays-Bas, Malo Gusto est devenu le 33e international A français formé à l’OL". Le Progrès.
11. (19 August 2022). "L’OL Académie, fournisseur officiel de l’équipe de France depuis 2000".