FNH

Jean-Michel Aulas: 'I realised I could do something about the inequalities in football'

04-Dec-2020 20:00:20 | The Guardian

The Lyon president on learning about respect and equality from his parents, making the women’s team the best in the world and the future

In August the Lyon owner-president, Jean-Michel Aulas, felt he was close to realising an incredibly ambitious dream. For the second time during his 33 years in charge he had the men’s and women’s teams competing in the latter stages of the Champions Leagues. Could a historic double be achieved?

In 2010 the men failed to reach the final, while the women were runners-up after losing to Turbine Potsdam on penalties. A decade later, in a “quite exceptional” year, both Lyon teams were readying to play Bayern Munich, the men in a semi-final and the women in a quarter-final three days later.