Lyon OU Rugby

Lyon Olympique Universitaire Rugby or LOU is a French professional rugby union team based in Lyon that currently competes in the Top 14, the highest level of the country's professional league system, having been most recently promoted for the 2016–17 season after winning the 2015–16 title of the second-level Pro D2. The club has bounced between the top two levels in recent years, having also been promoted in 2011 and 2014 and relegated in 2012 and 2015.

They were founded in 1896 and play in red and black. In 2011, the team left the Stade Vuillermet for the new Matmut Stadium. In 2017 the team moved to the Matmut Stadium de Gerland.

History Le LOU, as it is traditionally known, is one of the oldest sports clubs in France and among the first outside Paris to have set up a rugby section. The club's original name was Racing Club, the result of a merger of the Racing Club de Vaise and the Rugby Club de Lyon. It was renamed Racing et Cercles Réunis in 1902 after several other clubs joined it, then a few months later Lyon Olympique. Finally, in 1910, it became Lyon Olympique Universitaire. The red and black were adopted in 1902.

The club developed several sections (it now has 13), one of the most successful being the rugby union section, which is now known as LOU Rugby. The rugby club took part in three successive French championship finals (1931–33), losing the first one to Toulon (3–6) but winning the next two against Narbonne (9-3 and 10–3). It then played in lower amateur leagues until it was promoted back to the second professional division (Pro D2). In 2006–07, it had the second biggest budget of the championship and its ambition was to rejoin the Top 14 in the next two years, under the leadership of their coach Christian Lanta, who formerly led Racing Club de France, Italian club Treviso and Agen. However, they would not succeed in their promotion quest until 2011. Since then, they have been a proverbial "yo-yo team", having been either relegated or promoted four times in the six seasons since their 2011 promotion.

Honours European Rugby Challenge Cup Champions (1): 2022 Runners-up (1): 2025 French championship Top 14 Champions (2): 1932, 1933 Runners-up (1): 1931 Pro D2 Champions (3): 2011, 2014, 2016 Challenge Yves du Manoir Champions (1): 1933 Runners-up (1): 1932 Fédérale 1 Champions: 2002 Deuxième Division Champions: 1989, 1992

Finals results

French championship Date Winners Score Runners-up Venue Spectators10 May 1931RC Toulon6-3 Lyon OUParc Lescure, Bordeaux10,0005 May 1932Lyon OU9-3RC NarbonneParc Lescure, Bordeaux13,0007 May 1933Lyon OU10-3RC NarbonneParc Lescure, Bordeaux15,000

European Rugby Challenge Cup Date Winner Score Runners-up Venue Spectators27 May 2022 Lyon OU30–12 RC ToulonStade Vélodrome, Marseille51,43123 May 2025 Bath37–12 Lyon OUMillennium Stadium, Cardiff36,705

Challenge Yves du Manoir Date Winners Score Runners-up 1932SU Agenround robinLyon OU1933 Lyon OUround robinSU Agen

Current standings

Current squad

The Lyon squad for the 2025–26 season is:

Props

Hookers

Locks

Back row

Scrum-halves

Fly-halves

Centres

Wings

Fullbacks

Espoirs squad