Jean-Michel Antoine Aulas (born 22 March 1949) is a French businessman. He is the founder and CEO of Cegid (Compagnie Européenne de Gestion par l'Informatique Décentralisée) and serves as the owner and president of French

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club Olympique Lyonnais which he has owned since 1987. Since January 2020, Aulas is also the chairman of

OL Reign OL Reign is an American professional women's soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Bill and Teresa Predmore in 2012 as Seattle Reign FC, it was one of eight inaugural members of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). In 2020, ...

. Aulas was the last president of the prestigious

G-14 The G-14 was an organisation of European football clubs that existed between 1998 and 2008. It consisted of 14 European top class teams initially, later expanded to 18. It was disbanded in 2008 and was replaced by the European Club Association ...

until it disbanded in January 2008 and also currently serves on the board of

European Club Association The European Club Association (ECA) is a body representing the interests of professional association football clubs in UEFA. It is the sole such body recognised by the confederation, and has member clubs in each UEFA member association. It was fo ...

for his club. In 2018, his net worth was estimated at €600 million.

Olympique Lyonnais

On 15 June 1987, Aulas took control of Olympique Lyonnais and invested in the club with the objective of turning Lyon into an established Ligue 1 side. His ambitious plan, titled ''OL – Europe'', was designed to develop the club on the European level and back into the first division within a time-frame of no more than four years. After ridding the club of its debt, Aulas restructured the club's management and reorganized the finances and, in a span of two decades, transformed the club from a second division team into one of the richest football clubs in the world. Under Aulas's leadership, Lyon won their first ever

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

championship in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and promptly started a then national-record streak of seven successive titles. Lyon have also won one

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

and

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...

title each, as well as a record six

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries. His ...

titles. The club have appeared in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

eleven times under Aulas, reaching the semi-finals of the competition twice, in the 2009-10 and 2019-20 seasons. After establishing Lyon as a contender in

French football Association football is the most popular sport in France. The French Football Federation (FFF, Fédération Française de Football) is the national governing body and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of association football in the cou ...

, Aulas adopted a strategy which allowed the club to acquire many of the top players of other clubs in Ligue 1. After excelling at the club, the chairman would then sell the players for exorbitant fees to clubs abroad. His complex style of negotiating has led to the successful transfers of many former Lyon players such as Michael Essien,

Mahamadou Diarra Mahamadou Diarra (born 18 May 1981) is a Malian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He served as captain for the Mali national team. Club career OFI Crete Diarra started his professional career at Greek clu ...

Karim Benzema Karim Mostafa Benzema (born 19 December 1987) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for and captains La Liga club Real Madrid. A creative and prolific forward, Benzema is regarded as one of the best strikers of all time. ...

Florent Malouda Florent Johan Malouda (born 13 June 1980) is a French football coach and former professional player. A left winger, he spent most of his career at Lyon and Chelsea, winning four consecutive Ligue 1 titles with the former and the UEFA Champion ...

Eric Abidal Eric Sylvain Abidal (; born 11 September 1979) is a French former professional footballer who played as a left-back or centre-back. In his career, he played mainly for Lyon and Barcelona, winning 18 trophies with both teams combined, including t ...

, and

Tiago Mendes Tiago Cardoso Mendes (; born 2 May 1981), known simply as Tiago, is a Portuguese football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He played professionally in five of Europe's major leagues, Portugal, England, France, Italy and S ...

with all the players departing the club for transfer fees as low as €15 million (Tiago) and as high as €38 million (Essien). On the negative side, Aulas has been lambasted for, according to critics, running the club as if it were a business. The club currently operates on the European Stock Exchange under the name OL Groupe, initialed OLG. In April 2008, business magazine ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' ranked Lyon as the thirteenth most valuable football team in the world. The magazine valued the club at $408 million (€368 m), excluding debt. On 12 February 2009, accountants

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...

released their annual

Deloitte Football Money League The Deloitte Football Money League is a ranking of football clubs by revenue generated from football operations. It is produced annually by the accountancy firm Deloitte and released in early February of each year, describing the season most recen ...

. In the report, Lyon were rated in the twelfth spot, reportedly bringing in an annual revenue of €155.7 million for the 2007–08 season, which ranks among the world's best football clubs in terms of revenue.

Honours

Orders *

Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite Chevalier may refer to: Honours Belgium * a rank in the Belgian Order of the Crown * a rank in the Belgian Order of Leopold * a rank in the Belgian Order of Leopold II * a title in the Belgian nobility France * a rank in the French Legion d'h ...

: 1986 * Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur: 2006 * Officier of the Ordre national du Mérite: 2012 * Officier of the Légion d'honneur: 2016

References

External links

CEGID Press release
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aulas, Jean Michel 1949 births Living people People from L'Arbresle People from Rhône (department) French football chairmen and investors OL Reign owners Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite Officiers of the Légion d'honneur