Olympique Lyonnais was initially formed as part of the multisports club Lyon Olympique Universitaire, which was first formed in 1896, under the name Racing Club de Lyon. After a series of internal disputes over the coexistence of amateurs as well as professionals in the club, then-club manager Felix Louot and his entourage thought about creating Olympique Lyonnais as their own organization. The 3 August 1950 was the day Louot's dream came to fruition in the form of Olympique Lyonnais was officially founded by Dr. Albert Trillat and numerous other. The first manager of the club was Oscar Heisserer and, on 26 August 1950, it played its first ever official game, beating CA Paris-Charenton 3-0 before a crowd of 3,000 fans. In the second year in existence Lyon won the title of champions in second division and secured advancement in the 1st division. The club held its first division status for the rest of the decade, with only an entire year's time with the 2nd division during the 1953-54 season.
Lyon had moderate success in its 1960s-70s era, with players like Fleury Di Nallo Nestor Combin, Serge Chiesa, Bernard Lacombe and Jean Djorkaeff being key players. Under the direction of manager Lucien Jasseron, Lyon won its first ever Coupe de France title defeating Bordeaux with a 2-0 win in the season 1963-1964. The club also did well in the league during Jasseron's management until the 1965-66 season which saw Lyon was ranked 16th in the league and that ultimately led to Jasseron's exile. His successor was Louis Hon, who helped Lyon to win the third Coupe de France title after beating Sochaux 3-1 during the season 1966-67. Lyon was run by the former Lyon legendary Aime Mignot in the 1970s. Under Mignot's leadership, Lyon won its third Coupe de France title in 1972-73, defeating Nantes by a score of 2-1.
The club was purchased in June of 1987. Lyon became the property of Rhone investor Jean-Michel Aulas, who was the first to take charge of the club with the intention to transform Lyon into a well-established Ligue 1 side. The plan, named OL - Europe was created to help the club grow at an European level, and then return to the first division in the space of less than 4 years. The first manager in the new management structure would be Raymond Domenech. The chairman of the future gave Domenech the right to choose anyone he felt was needed to assist the team in reaching the top of the league. The team was able to do this during his first season as chairman. Lyon was at its peak under Domenech as it qualified to play in the UEFA Cup. The remaining time however, the club did not perform to its potential. Domenech took over by the former French player Jean Tigana, who led the team to a dazzling second place in the 1994-95 season.
In the beginning of the millennium new year, Lyon began to achieve more successes at the top of French football. The club was able to establish itself as the top club in France beating Marseille as well as Paris Saint-Germain and also became the most affluent club in France. Lyon was known for its promising talents who eventually achieved excellence not just in France but also internationally and around the world. Examples of this include Michael Essien, Florent Malouda Sidney Govou Juninho, Cris, Eric Abidal, Mahamadou Diarra, Patrick Muller and Karim Benzema. Lyon has won its first Ligue 1 championship in 2002 which began a record-breaking national streak of seven consecutive championships. In that time, the club also won a Coupe de France title, the club's initial Coupe de la Ligue title and a record number of Trophee of Champions. The club also did well at UEFA competitions, getting to the quarterfinals on three occasions and also the semi-finals in 2010 during the UEFA Champions League. Lyon's run of dominance and constant dominance of French football was ended in the 2008-09 season, as it was defeated by Bordeaux.
OL has begun investing in other sports besides football. OL manages an esports club in China and in the year 2019 bought a minority stake in ASVEL, the city's ASVEL basketball team and specifically an interest of 25% in ASVEL's men's team along with a 10% stake in ASVEL's women's team.
In the last few days, OL announced in December 2019 that it would purchase an 89.5 percent share in the U.S. National Women's Soccer League team that was in the past by the name Reign FC. The deal was completed in January 2020 after the approval by the NWSL board. After a few weeks, OL announced the rebranding of Reign FC as OL Reign.
In the season of 2019-20, Lyon suffered a poor beginning to the season and finished the season in seventh position after the league was suspended because of the coronavirus epidemic. Lyon also made it to an end of Coupe de la Ligue, but ultimately fell to Paris Saint-Germain 6-5 on penalties. This means that Lyon were not able to make it to European contest for the very first time in years. For the Champions League, Lyon were more successful, beating Juventus at the end of the 16th round as well as Manchester City in the quarter-final to make it to the semi-finals for this first time for the past 10 years. However, they lost in the semi-final 3-0 against Bayern Munich, eliminating Lyon from the competition.