Where Lyon ranks amongst the biggest European clubs

[DaeHaMinGuk]

it's true that it's a great town, and the team is really embedded here. everyone knows and loves juninho, even if they know nothing about foot and care less. he's such a nice boy! and take greg coupet: they dedicated a youth sports complex to him recently and his part in the opening ceremonies did credit not only to him, and the club, but to football in general. a real role model. even nicolas anelka is a great guy when he's in lyon, like when he helped dedicate stade marc-vivien foé, there must be something in the air!

i've seen cris and bergougnoux at the airport and patrick muller and sylvain wiltord in restaurants. if you go to nightclubs you're sure to see govou and malouda from time to time. it's a cozy town and the players are a real part of it.

Cozy is the right word. Being a native Texan where I'm used to talking to strangers in public just to be nice, smiling for no reason, etc. I felt right at home in Lyon.

I spent a month prior to Lyon in Paris. I love Paris, but Parisiennes aren't anywhere near as accomdating as the fine folks from Lyon.

The woman who I stayed with for my program was maybe the most generous lady I've ever met.

The next time I go to Europe, I will certainly take a train ride from Paris to Lyon and take in a Lyon match at the Stade Gerland.

[marakana10]

Good on ya mate. There is something to learn from every culture.

[DaeHaMinGuk]

Good on ya mate. There is something to learn from every culture.

Yup, that's how I became a soccer fan. I used to hate soccer until I expanded my horizons and wondered why the rest of the world outside of America loved the beautiful game.

Following soccer allows me to read and see different cultures at play.

[guignol]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to DaeHaMinGuk again.

i still like baseball, but can no longer put up with american football which was once my favorite sport.

i played a little soccer in the states, but only because i wasn't good enough for the more popular sports, and frankly i had no idea what i was doing. i didn't even know how the offsides rule worked!

here in europe i learned to love soccer gradually, didn't have a clue at first. to give you some idea, i saw both platini and cruyff play, and didn't even know it! it was only years later that i learned who they were, and what i had missed through ignorance!

i think the break point was the milan-barça CL final about 10 years ago. i realized i was watching THE most important event of the sports year. unlike the superbowl which is 4 hours of commercials and confetti with a little football from time to time, this was pure sport.

when you come to lyon, make sure to let us know here on the board. we can have a mini-meet!

[marakana10]

Exactly guignol. Not to take anything away from American sports but the Champions League is the most popular for me event in my sporting life. It is the pinnacle of sport for me. It probably comes only second to the Olympics when in familiarity would be my guess.

[Looper121]

Guignol, oh man, you can't say that about American Football! Become a Buffalo Bills fan, then you will see the light! ;)

[lefutur]

Yeah but in American football you get to see nipples at half time. :D

[themaestro]

@the henry and carew story


Wonder why Henry didn't make more of a push to bring him to London? I think they would make a grat combo.

Carew has really settled at Lyon though, I guess the style and formation Lyon use really suit him.

[DaeHaMinGuk]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to DaeHaMinGuk again.

i still like baseball, but can no longer put up with american football which was once my favorite sport.

i played a little soccer in the states, but only because i wasn't good enough for the more popular sports, and frankly i had no idea what i was doing. i didn't even know how the offsides rule worked!

here in europe i learned to love soccer gradually, didn't have a clue at first. to give you some idea, i saw both platini and cruyff play, and didn't even know it! it was only years later that i learned who they were, and what i had missed through ignorance!

i think the break point was the milan-barça CL final about 10 years ago. i realized i was watching THE most important event of the sports year. unlike the superbowl which is 4 hours of commercials and confetti with a little football from time to time, this was pure sport.

when you come to lyon, make sure to let us know here on the board. we can have a mini-meet!

Without a doubt. J'ai beaucoup des copains in Lyon to meet up with again. The host I stayed with was really excited to have me as her guest, because it was her first time to host an American student in her home, so she introduced me to many of her friends, at least the ones who spoke English.

What made me love the host I stayed with, was when she let me eat dinner in front of the TV watching Czech Rep vs Holland during Euro 2004.

It's funny because in my time in Paris for one month, I stayed with a family who lived 5 mins from Parc des Princes, so you'd think I'd be a PSG fan. But my love for everything Lyon made me root for L'OL.

I was hoping to go to Europe this summer but it doesn't appear to be too possible for me. I would love to be there during Christmas break and hopefully Lyon will be playing.

I remember visiting the Lyon team shop in that large shopping district but I very much regret not buying a single thing. At the very least, I could have donated some Euros towards helping L'OL's revenues...

I was able to make a lot of random friends in Paris and Lyon because I was an Asian kid from America who liked soccer who also spoke a little French. Everytime I told someone, "J'aime le football." They would always ask, "football Americain?" I'd always have to tell them I liked the beautiful game not just American football.

[AllezParisAllezPSG]

DaeHaMinGuk, you disapoint me, i could have invited you with my supras auteuil buddies at the parc... you missed out big time... just joking around, i respect you for supporting lyon... probably not many supporters of OL down in houston... my girl friends parents live there now (in katy) and my gf goes to UT so when i'm down there, i bring some PSG clothes or my kop of boulogne sweatshirt (i like the stares people give when they look at the bull dog, wondering what the kop of boulogne with a french flag could be) ... but its too damn hot down there... this summer, in the parking lot, i got out of the car and thought i was slowly melting... with the suns rays beaming off the pavement, it felt like i was standing on the sun... even sun glasses didn't prevent my eyes from hurting... i love the food down there (salt grass is THE BEST!) but man do i like it here in new york... just love the wintery snow...

in any case, a little Allez Paris quand meme on the lyon board...

[DaeHaMinGuk]

DaeHaMinGuk, you disapoint me, i could have invited you with my supras auteuil buddies at the parc... you missed out big time... just joking around, i respect you for supporting lyon... probably not many supporters of OL down in houston... my girl friends parents live there now (in katy) and my gf goes to UT so when i'm down there, i bring some PSG clothes or my kop of boulogne sweatshirt (i like the stares people give when they look at the bull dog, wondering what the kop of boulogne with a french flag could be) ... but its too damn hot down there... this summer, in the parking lot, i got out of the car and thought i was slowly melting... with the suns rays beaming off the pavement, it felt like i was standing on the sun... even sun glasses didn't prevent my eyes from hurting... i love the food down there (salt grass is THE BEST!) but man do i like it here in new york... just love the wintery snow...

in any case, a little Allez Paris quand meme on the lyon board...

If it's any consolation I visited the PSG Nike store on the Champs Elysee...

[Breakwood]

This thread makes me not able to wait for the next couple years. 2 of the univeristies i'm applying to have exchanges to Lyon which I'm for sure going to take. With all this talk about the city It makes me want to go now!

[DaeHaMinGuk]

This thread makes me not able to wait for the next couple years. 2 of the univeristies i'm applying to have exchanges to Lyon which I'm for sure going to take. With all this talk about the city It makes me want to go now!

I'd highly recommend it! I graduate this summer and I regret not studying abroad more than I did.

[guignol]

Yeah but in American football you get to see nipples at half time. :Din france too, but not on tv. ;)

[guignol]

Lyon's Dream Team
The game's current Dream Team, which reflects how well teams have performed so far, is dominated by Olympique Lyonnais players, with goalkeeper Grégory Coupet, defenders Cris, Claudio Caçapa and Anthony Réveillère and midfielder Juninho Pernambucano all taking their place in the side.

http://www.uefa.com/Competitions/UCL/fantasyfootball/newsId=353376.html

[SUPERAJAX]

At the moment OL would be high in the ranking. From the teams not playing in the 3 biggest leagues (Spain, England, Italy) they are the best.

This would be my top 10:

1.) Juventus
2.) Barcelona
3.) Olympique Lyon
4.) Chelsea
5.) AC Milan
6.) Bayern Munchen
7.) Real Madrid
8.) Arsenal (with Henry)
9.) pi$v
10.) Liverpool (in Champions League)

Lyon has won already from Madrid and I hope they will do so again wednesday.

http://www.ajaxfotoside.nl/oldlogo.gif

[AllezParisAllezPSG]

If it's any consolation I visited the PSG Nike store on the Champs Elysee...

how did you like it haha?

hey breakwood, just curious, why do you support france? you're from toronto, so is your family part french? or another reason... again, just curious...

i'm guessing the Real Madrid - Lyon forum will be starting soon, and man oh man do i hope lyon beats madrid in spain! most people have madrid winning (in the CL day 5 predictions) so i want people to realize once and for all this team is no joke...
allez les gones this week! all of france will be behind you!

[Breakwood]

how did you like it haha?

hey breakwood, just curious, why do you support france? you're from toronto, so is your family part french? or another reason... again, just curious...

i'm guessing the Real Madrid - Lyon forum will be starting soon, and man oh man do i hope lyon beats madrid in spain! most people have madrid winning (in the CL day 5 predictions) so i want people to realize once and for all this team is no joke...
allez les gones this week! all of france will be behind you!

LOL I just started the Real-Lyon thread as you posted this. Yeah my family is French, I was born in Montreal and moved to Toronto a couple years back. My grandparents immigrated to Canada from a small town near Lyon, so I support Lyon because of our ties to the region. Unfortunatly I havent been able to visit Lyon, however I hope to study there in a couple years on an exchange at the college I plan on attending.

[DaeHaMinGuk]

how did you like it haha?

hey breakwood, just curious, why do you support france? you're from toronto, so is your family part french? or another reason... again, just curious...

i'm guessing the Real Madrid - Lyon forum will be starting soon, and man oh man do i hope lyon beats madrid in spain! most people have madrid winning (in the CL day 5 predictions) so i want people to realize once and for all this team is no joke...
allez les gones this week! all of france will be behind you!

I liked it. I bought my Air Total Max 365 sneakers (basically the old Zoom 90 boots, except in shoe form) at the PSG store. So you could thank me for giving money to PSG...

If I didn't support Lyon, surely I would be a PSG supporter.

Again, if it's any consolation, I hope PSG finishes in 2nd. Even if it's 30 pts behind... :D

[guignol]

If I didn't support Lyon, surely I would be a PSG supporter.if it wasn't OL, i would support düsseldorf, just so i could shout...

GO FORTUNA!