Olympique Lyonnais Reserves and Academy

The Olympique Lyonnais Reserves & Academy are the reserve team and academy of French club Olympique Lyonnais. The reserves squad play in the Championnat National 3, the fifth division of French football and the second highest division the team is allowed to participate in. Lyon have won the reserves title of the Championnat de France Amateur six times. They have won in 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, and 2009, and 2010. Overview The U-19 squad participates in their weekly league, the Championnat National U19, which is a league comprising four groups of fourteen clubs who play each other twice during the regular season. This session is dubbed Phase 1. Following the regular season, the four group winners are randomly selected to face each other in semi-final matches (dubbed Phase 2) to decide who will play each other in the Under-18 Championnat National championship match, usually held in Mayenne. There is also a third-place match, which is usually held just before the championship match. The Under-18 squad also regularly participates in the Coupe Gambardella. They have won the title on 4 occasions. They won the cup in 1971, 1994, 1997 and 2022. The U-17 side participates in a league, the Championnat National U17, a youth league comprising six groups of twelve clubs who play each other twice during the regular season, dubbed Phase 1. Following the regular season, the six group winners and the two best second place clubs are randomly inserting into two groups of four, where they play each other at neutral venues once over a span of four days. This portion is dubbed Phase 2. The two winners of each group will then face each other in the championship match to determine the champion of the Under-17 Championnat National. The Under-17 squad also participates in regional cup competitions. The current National 3 manager is Gueida Fofana, who played for Olympique Lyonnais before but had his career cut-short due to injuries. He has been the manager of Lyon's reserves team since 2019. The manager of the Olympique Lyonnais U-19s and U-17s are former Lyon defender Jérémie Bréchet, and Mohamed Chacha.