• Twenty years ago, Olympique Lyonnais became champion of France for the first time in its history.

  • To mark the occasion, the club has chosen to produce a documentary series of eight episodes, which is based on the recent testimonies of the main protagonists of this coronation of 2002, from Jean-Michel Aulas to Juninho, passing by Sonny Anderson and Jacques Santini.

  • The first episode of

    A Little Closer to the Stars

    has been freely available on YouTube since Wednesday.

Seventy hours of interviews carried out with almost all the protagonists, plus dozens of hours of VHS archive footage viewed... Olympique Lyonnais has pulled out all the stops to immerse its supporters as well as possible in this memorable season. 2001-2002, concluded with the first title of French champion in its history (sorry for the

spoiler

).

After mobilizing six employees from its media sector for more than six months, OL is launching its series

A little closer to the stars

this Wednesday , with a first 27-minute episode freely available on YouTube.

The seven successors will be broadcast every Wednesday, gradually until June 22, on OL Play.

“We realized that we had before us gold mines of images and interviews, explains Gaël Berger, editor-in-chief of OL media.

At the start, we didn't think of going on a documentary series, then we said to ourselves that it was the most ambitious format and adapted to everyone's desires.

We had to do it for all generations of Lyon supporters, and even beyond.

»

Access to this content has been blocked to respect your choice of consent

By clicking on "

I ACCEPT

", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners

I ACCEPT

And to better remunerate 20 Minutes, do not hesitate to accept all cookies, even for one day only, via our "I accept for today" button in the banner below.

More information on the Cookie Management Policy page.

Between "Les Yeux dans les Bleus" and "Sunderland 'til I die"?

The former Radio Scoop journalist would like to see

A Little Closer to the Stars

come between

Les Yeux dans les Bleus

and

Sunderland 'til I die

for football fans in France.

From the first episode,

La gueule de bois

, especially devoted to the final of the Coupe de la Ligue on May 5, 2001 against Monaco (2-1), "the click" for this group carried by Sonny Anderson, fans are delighted to many times.

The anecdotes of the Parisian post-final sleepless night, Steed Malbranque's desire to leave swung to the press in the parking lot of the training center or even the pre-season training camp in Tignes (Savoie) with Robert Duverne at the helm, the 2000s smell good.

"When we found even a 15-second sequence that was worth it, in the middle of hours of viewing never-before-aired TLM [ex-Lyon chain] archives, we danced for joy in the office. , smiles Gaël Berger.

You will see, there are very strong moments, and I sometimes had a lump in my throat during certain interview passages.

»

Juninho went over his falling out with OL to testify

Let OL fans be reassured, Juninho, absolute idol during the seven titles of champions of France (from 2002 to 2008), is part of the adventure, despite his estrangement with Jean-Michel Aulas and the club since his hasty departure as sports director last December.

""Juni" has made the difference: these emotions of a first coronation in Lyon, twenty years ago, are inscribed in him, specifies his former teammate Jean-Marc Chanelet, also present in the series.

It is important to dissociate this title conquered together and its post-career, in order to please all nostalgics and to make discover our history to the youngest.

This transmission issue has not escaped OL, as the series without

voiceovers

is unveiled at the end of the club's worst season since the start of this golden era (an 8th place in Ligue 1 and the anniversary symbolic of 10 years without any title).

Fiascos against Châteauroux and Liberec to the apotheosis against Lens

A context that does not escape the ex-right side Jean-Marc Chanelet: “Our testimonies and all these images can serve as a little reminder in this period of scarcity for OL.

This series is a great initiative that shows the importance for the club of this page that we wrote together in 2002." As Gaël Berger points out,

A little closer to the stars

(in reference to the renewal campaign launched by the OL in the summer of 2001) also reminds us how much the history of the Lyon club could have turned on the wrong side that year.

Fans believe that this season comes down to 10 minutes of footage from the last match at Gerland against Lens (3-1).

But before that, there were tense exchanges between players and supporters, because OL had nevertheless been knocked out by Châteauroux in the Coupe de France and especially by Slovan Liberec in the UEFA Cup.

Then we understand how this group has become a winning machine.

We discover his locker room leaders, when some no longer believe in the title.

These guys are forever linked.

»

The recent success of the Heroes' Match at Parc OL, for the 20th anniversary of this first Ligue 1 title, just like the quivering enthusiasm around this documentary series, leaves little doubt: the gang of Sonny Anderson, Grégory Coupet, Sidney Govou and Juninho are also linked for life to the supporters of a club they have raised to the roof of French football.

Sport

OL: Twenty years after their first victory in Ligue 1, the supporters vibrate "with nostalgia" in front of the Heroes match

Sport

Losc – OL: Is Jean-Michel Aulas primarily responsible for the current Lyon fiasco?

  • Soccer

  • Olympique Lyonnais (OL)

  • Ligue 1 Uber Eats

  • Jean Michel Aulas

  • Lyons

  • Series

  • Sport

  • Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes