The Parc Olympique Lyonnais Stadium is the home of French football club Olympique Lyonnais and is located at Décines-Charpieu, in the Lyon Metropolis, France. Due to sponsorship reasons the stadium is known as Groupama Stadium and in some competitions known as Stade de Lyon or the Grand Stade de Lyon.
Parc Olympique Stadium Capacity
Apart from football matches, this 60,000-seat stadium also holds Rugby Union and Ice Hockey matches, as well as musical concerts. The stadium has a ground surface made up of AirFibr hybrid grass with a field size of 105 by 68 meters and 105 executive suites.
History
Jean-Michel Aulas, the president of Olympique Lyonnais announced the plans to create this stadium on September, 2008 at the suburbs of Lyon.
The stadium construction started late in the summer of 2013 due to the hindering of the project procedures. The home club, Olympique Lyonnais played their first game in the new stadium on 9 January 2016 which they won.
Major Matches
The stadium hosted six games at the 2016 UEFA Euro tournament. The match held on 13th of June 2016 was the first match of UEFA held at the stadium where Italy won over Belgium with a win of 2 goals in Group E round.
A few notable games at the tournament includes the 2-1 win of host team over the Republic of Ireland, and the semi-final win of eventual champions Portugal's with 2 winning goals over Wales.
When 2017 Coupe de la Ligue Finals was held at Parc Ol, it was the first time a final has been hosted by a stadium outside the Paris area.
Controversies
In spite of the agreement of project by the French Government in 2008, for around 5 years, the stadium construction was hindered. The construction finally began in the summer of 2013.
During the 2017 Coupe de la Ligue Finals, some Paris Saint-Germain fans vandalized the stadium leading to fines and a travel ban to them.
Recent and Future Matches
UEFA announced that Parc Ol had been chosen to host the 2018 UEFA Europa League Final on 16th of May 2018.
It is also one of the twelve stadiums that will host matches at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, and has been scheduled to host the semi-finals as well as the final match.
The stadium will be one of the venues for holding the football matches at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
