Jeff Kassouf
May 19, 2025, 11:44 AM ET
European women's powerhouse Olympique Lyonnais Féminin (Lyon) will rebrand as OL Lyonnes, majority owner Michele Kang announced on Monday.
The Lyonnes name is a play on the term "lioness" and the city's name, Lyon.
Kang said the team took the liberty of replacing the "i" with a "y" in the French spelling of the word to maintain some connection to the men's club and the city.
"I hope all French [speakers] forgive us for changing the French word, but we decided that it's appropriate to make sure that everyone globally and in this country know that we are part of Lyon," Kang said on stage at the unveiling.
OL Lyonnes' new logo is a roaring red lioness with blue and gold accents.
"New Story, Same Legend," is the team's new motto.
"This is not just about name change or logo change," Kang said Monday.
Kang also announced that the women's professional team would swap training facilities with the club's boys' academy.
The women's team will renovate its new space to create a performance center that is "100% intentionally designed for female athletes," Kang said.
Kang, who Forbes estimates to have a $1.2 billion net worth, will finance the work.
Going forward, the OL Lyonnes will play all games at Groupama Stadium, which seats about 59,000 people and hosted the 2019 Women's World Cup final.
The women's team previously only played there occasionally.
"That was one of the most surprising things when I first came," Kang told the Associated Press. "The best team in the world, I was surprised they [Lyon] were playing the majority of games at a training center. It is unfitting. We want our fans to be part of our journey, part of our community and you can't achieve fan engagement by constantly switching back and forth."
Kang also owns the London City Lionesses, which was just promoted to England's top flight ahead of next season, and the NWSL's Washington Spirit.
The Spirit have been in the middle of a years-long brand transition; the club has not provided any definitive timeline on a rebrand.
Kang told ESPN recently that she would soon close on the purchase of a fourth team, on a new continent, as part of her growing multi-club business called Kynisca.
Last month, Kang announced that she is donating the research arm of Kynisca, which aims to advance female-specific training philosophies, to U.S. Soccer.
She had already invested $25 million into Kynisca's research arm.
She had previously already committed $30 million over five years to U.S. Soccer to fund advancements in women's national team programming and training.
OL Lyonnes, as the team will be known starting next season, is the most successful women's team in European history.
First brought under the Olympique Lyonnais branding in 2004, the club has won eight UEFA Women's Champions League titles, more than any other club.
This season, OL Lyonnes won its 18th French league title in the past 19 years.
Kang purchased majority control of OL's women's team in 2023, creating some independence from the men's team, whose majority owner is fellow American businessman John Textor through his Eagle Football Group.
Kang has strongly advocated for women's teams to implement independent plans that fit their own needs.
"The worst thing we can do to women's football is to copy and paste" what the men's game has been doing for decades, Kang told ESPN.
"Our product, in our opinion, is fundamentally different -- and I think men's team owners will say the same thing."
Creating a dedicated training space for the women's team was one of Kang's first goals after purchasing the team.
The renovated facility is expected to be ready by July 2026, and it will feature local tie-ins like limestone sourced from Lyon.
Women's players have specific needs like childcare and pregnancy support, Kang pointed out.
"When you tell female players 'We're going to do x, y, and z' female players always want to know why. There are a lot more conversations," Kang said.
"So, from an architectural perspective they need a lot more space, whether it's an individual space or public space, conducive to conversations."
The facility will also feature a women's soccer museum, Kang said.
