Olympique Lyonnais Logo PNG
The Olympique Lyonnais logo features traditional elements that make the club recognizable. The emblem reflects national pride and love for the home city. The specially selected colors create a visual harmony that emphasizes the desire for epic victories.
Meaning and History
The city’s main symbol and the club’s heraldic lion stand on its hind legs. Of course, it does not look the same as in the original: the designers experimented for a long time before arriving at the final version at Olympique Lyonnais. Additional elements also changed frequently: for example, the traditional shield would disappear and reappear, taking on a new shape, and the team’s initials would move constantly.
What is Olympique Lyonnais?
Olympique Lyonnais is a French professional football club. Based in the eponymous city in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, it competes in Ligue 1 and won a major title in 2002. The club was founded in 1950. The team has 8 Trophées des Champions wins and 5 Coupe de France wins.
1950 – 1957
The lion and shield on Olympique Lyonnais’ first emblem match those on Lyon’s national coat of arms. The designers kept the color scheme unchanged, maintaining the classic blue, white, and red combination. They only transformed the shield’s top, replacing the three golden fleurs-de-lis with the club’s initials.
1957 – 1965
In 1957, artists added long claws and thick fur to the lion, making it as close as possible to the animal on the lion’s coat of arms. The color scheme also changed: purple replaced blue, and the red became darker than in the first logo.
1965 – 1974
The shield outline turned gold. The lettering “OL” returned to blue, with the letters spaced wider apart. The lion has developed dark outlines that separate it from the red-crimson background.
1974 – 1976
The elements were rearranged in 1974. The shield no longer looks the same as before: its base is no longer sharp but pointed. On the right are three vertical lines of varying thickness, two white and one blue. A golden lion on the left side reaches with its front paws to the letters “OL.” The club’s initials are shown as a white monogram. Below is a ball with blue outlines.
1976 – 1977
In the 1970s, the first version of the Olympique Lyonnais emblem without a shield appeared. It was a two-piece sign featuring a red lion and a white-and-blue monogram “OL.”
1977 – 1980
A black-and-white soccer ball has been added to the existing logo. To make it fit, the developers had to change the monogram’s size: they reduced the diameter of the “O” and shortened the vertical stroke of the “L” three times. The redesign also changed the lion’s proportions: the flattened animal with a long tail bears little resemblance to the original. This makes the image look cluttered because of the wide gold outlines.
1980 – 1989
The creators removed the outlines and changed the soccer ball. If it had consisted of black-and-white pentagons earlier, its surface is now covered with wide white stripes with blue borders.
1989 – 1996
Jean-Michel Aulas, the new owner of Olympique Lyonnais, initiated the next redesign. He removed the club’s traditional symbols and approved the emblem featuring large, three-dimensional letters “OL,” decorated with a V-shaped pattern of two red and blue stripes. The same ornament adorned the players’ shirts.
1996 – 2000
In 1996, the long-awaited lion returned, not alone but with the coat of arms. They were the same as on the 1974-1976 logo. This adds one new element: the club’s name, in a red rectangle at the top. However, the abbreviation “OL” did not disappear either: the designers placed it in the lower half of the shield, set against a blue background. They placed the lion inside the “O.”
2000 – 2006
The designers enlarged its name to highlight Olympique Lyonnais’s dominance in French football.
2006 – 2022
The latest logo redesign darkened the colors and reduced the size of the letters “O” and “L.”
2022 – today
Font and Colors
The lion depicted in almost all Olympique Lyonnais graphic signs closely resembles the lion on the Lyon flag and coat of arms. This is no coincidence: the club’s founders wanted to show its close connection to the city by using the famous heraldic symbol.
The logo’s creators chose a standard sans-serif font. It has neither serifs nor decorative elements. The letters look strict, with uniformly thick strokes.
The color selection received a little more attention. The designers combined red (#DA0812), blue (#14387F), white (#FFFFFF), and gold (#D29D46) to achieve visual harmony.