Lyon’s one-club mentality raises the bar in the women’s European game

The gold glitter that spun around the Lyon players as they celebrated an eighth Champions League title in 10 final appearances brought an enthralling European season to a close. So, what did we learn along the way?

Talk of a power shift at the top of European women’s football was emphatically put to bed with Lyon’s stunning 3-1 defeat of the holders Barcelona in Turin on Saturday. However, it should not have been as surprising a result as much of the reaction suggested. Lyon had a bad season last year, finishing without a trophy for the first time since they won a first league title in the 2006-07 season, but that was a blip rather than the start of a decline. Lyon have achieved longevity through both financial and ideological investment in their women’s football set-up for close to two decades. In that time, the club have driven player wages up, embedded a genuine “one club” mentality from top to bottom and created a culture that players want to be a part of. It will take time for a club to compete with that.

The introduction of a group stage this year has transformed the competition. Previously, clubs competed in a straight knockout that began with a round of 32, with some clubs entering directly and others taking part in qualifiers. For this season, after two rounds of qualifying, a 16-team group stage was introduced, with the holders and teams from the top three Uefa-ranked nations entering directly. The impact has been huge. Clubs are benefiting from more money and a new distribution model which means teams in the round of 16 have received €400,000 (teams that made the round of 32 earned €70,000 each in the preceding years). Beyond the finances, which also includes solidarity payments to clubs in leagues with teams