Cheers to Coralie
A Lyon supporter who has been documenting her fanclub’s journeys both home and away.
Two days ahead of the Women's Champions League Final in Bilbao, Coralie was in Seattle. She had travelled to meet some fans from Olympic Lyon’s North American women’s team fan club.
Fourteen hours later she arrived in Paris, hopped on a three hour train to Lyon, and then a ten hour coach with her fanclub, the OL Ang Elles, to Bilbao. OlAng’elles were formed in 2011 following Olympic Lyon’s first European title that same year. In the last 13 years the group has grown to over 280 members largely inspired by the success of their team, which has been a trailblazer in the women’s game.
During the 2011 season, Coralie & watched Lyon’s women’s side win their first European title. She soon became captivated by the women’s team, inspired by team that looked like her, one she could truly identify with. She first met the OL Ang'elles in 2015 in Rouen for the semi final of coupe de France. By 2017, despite the trepidation of her mother, Coralie moved to Lyon to pursue a degree in sports studies and stay closer to her beloved club.
Now 26, Coralie travels across France, Europe and beyond, spending everything she earns to follow her side, meet Lyon fans, and be an eyewitness to this historic moment in women’s sport. After Lyon’s last successful champions league campaign in 2022, which culminated with Lyon winning the final in Turin, Coralie and her friends decided to take on a new challenge and create a web series from the fans’ point of view.
Like most fans, Coralie has many rituals, travelling to every game, the lucky shirt, eating at the same restaurant ahead of home games, but now, the rituals have expanded. Going to an away game means charging her equipment between rest stops and in airports. It’s organising with her group members to book coaches, and capturing and archiving best moments on the bus ride back home.
“I don’t just want to enjoy this team and the growth of the women’s game, I want to be a part of it. It wasn’t easy to convince my family to let me move to Lyon and pursue my dream of working in women’s sport, I want to change that for the next generation”.
Just hours ahead of the final Coralie was responding to DM’s and comments from the actual first team players who had tracked the stories of the OL Ang Elles’ journey to Bilbao. There is a connection there, a sense of family, which one might struggle to find in the upper echelons of the men’s game. It's the work of Coralie, her friends, and the community they have created which contributes to growing the women’s game.
Through Lyon, Coralie has not just found friends and community, she has developed her own interests. For her, OL Women are not just the club she supports, they are the vehicle through which she can participate in a collective goal. Growing the women’s game.
