Olympique de Lotrique
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| Full name | Olympique de Lotrique | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Les Olympiens (The Olympians) | |||
| Short name | OL | |||
| Founded | 2 September 1891 | |||
| Ground | Arène de Xambar | |||
| Capacity | 72,164 | |||
| Owner | Jacques Malouines | |||
| Chairman | Thierry Lasalle | |||
| Manager | Álvaro Câmara | |||
| League | Liga Premiére | |||
| 2017–18 | Liga Premiére, 2nd | |||
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Olympique de Lotrique; also known as l'OL or simply Olympique is a professional association football club based in Lotrič, Midrasia. The club currently competes in Liga 1, the highest tier of Midrasian football. The club has won a number of trophies including 23 domestic league titles, 8 Super Cups, 12 Asuran Cups and one FFA Champions Cup.
Founded in 1891 as an omnisport club focusing on association football, rugby, tennis, gymnastics and swimming; it wasn't until the early 1900s that the football team as it is known today emerged from the club. For much of their history as a football club, Olympique de Lotrique have competed in the highest tier of Midrasian football and hold the title of the most successful Midrasian football club, and arguably most successful in Aeia.
The club's home stadium is the Arène de Xambar, formerly known as the Arène d'Aurelie, which holds a capacity of 72,164. The stadium is located in north-western Lotrič and is the second largest stadium in the city, behind the Stade Nationale used by the Midrasian national team. The club has a large domestic following, with average home attendances reaching around 58,000 as of 2012, the highest in Liga 1. The club also have a notable overseas following, holding followers across Aeia, particularly in countries such as Sagalash, Tarasanovia, and Ternca. The club is also one of the highest earning in Aeia with an annual income of around Đ650 million. According to international statistics, Olympique de Lotrique is the most valuable football club in Aeia, valued at Đ3.65 billion.
Fans of the club have a number of notable long-standing rivalries with a number of domestic and international clubs. In domestic football, most notable is the Lotrič derby against AC Lotrič and la Classique against FC Almiaro. Internationally, the club is renowned for its rivalries with Bersk SK from Navack and Statjathady Vefen from Carcossica.
History
Olympique de Lotrique was founded as an omnisport club by local entrepreneur Pierre Virarde in 1891. Virarde formed the club initially as a goodwill initiative toward the community of northern Lotrič, and as a way to ensure his factory workers remained fit and healthy. Workers in Virande's furniture factories would be given access to tennis, athletics and gymnastic facilities as part of the entrepreneur's scheme to maintain a balanced working life. Factory workers would also be given access to sports teams which would compete against other athletics associations throughout the city, fostering a spirit of cooperation and unity among the workforce. However, soon the club was opened to the wider public and members of the local community were invited to partake in the sports club and its various activities.
Whilst football had always played a major part in the club's operations, it wasn't until the twentieth century that it came to surpass rugby or tennis in importance for the club. The rising popularity of the sport, in addition to the increasing number of members joining the club specifically for its football team, led Olympique to invest far more time and money into its footballing operations. In order to fund the improved football team, the club was forced to cut a number of under-subscribed sports, such as squash and croquet. Soon the club became large enough and had raised sufficient capital to be entered into the newly formed Midrasian football league.
Olympique officially became a professional team in 1906, one year after the official formation of the Midrasian football league. The team played their first official game against FC Locarno, resulting in a 0-0 draw. The team went on to finish middle of the Midrasian third-tier, allowing Olympique to remain within the Midrasian leagues. Olympique would remain in the third tier until 1911 when they gained promotion to the second-tier after a second place finish. The team performed reasonably well for their size within the second tier, regularly finishing between 4th and 12th place, allowing the club to retain its place within the division. A number of new signings, in conjunction with newly emerging youth talent within the sports club saw an increased focus placed on the football team by club owner Virarde. Yet in spite of this, Virarde was sceptical of dedicating all of his attention toward football, instead of wishing to place Olympique as a sports club for the local community of northern Lotrič. In 1913 however, due to the collapse of his furniture company, Virarde was forced to sell the sports club in its entirety to cover his debts. The club were eventually sold to local Lotrič landowner Jacob Bertrand.
Immediately following his takeover of Olympique, Bertrand chose to make the football team completely independent of the wider sports association. Bertrand also chose to move the football team to the district of Noulit within which he had a considerable number of infrastructural developments underway, such as a residential expansion and an agreement to expand the Lotrič rail system into the area. The club's new stadium was to be built on a site within the district which would provide space for amicable growth and expansion over the following years. The divorce and expansion proved beneficial to the club who gained promotion to tier-one in 1921 and were able to retain their position within the league despite a difficult first season.
Olympique performed considerably well within their following seasons in tier-one and went on to win their first league title in 1929. Whilst this success was not followed up for several years, Olympique were able to retain their position within the league, with regular finishes within the top-five. By 1940 the club had won a total of five league titles and quickly became a dominant force within Midrasian football. Much of the club's success was put down to player-manager Henri Aurelie, who was renowned for both his tactical brilliance and masterful pace in spite of his age. Despite this, financial difficulty on the part of the club's ownership saw a period of decline throughout the late 1940s and early 50s. The club would eventually be sold to Pallas Group who chose to rebuild the team's crumbling stadium and invest a considerable sum in an attempt to return the club to its former glory, whilst also ensuring that the club would be able to remain financially stable.
Whilst Olympique were able to improve on their position, the team would not completely dominate until the 1970s and 80s, during which time the team won eleven league titles and a number of international trophies. The considerable success of the club also allowed Midrasian football to reach an international audience, providing a considerable increase in the revenue earned by the sport. The success of the club allowed it to attract an increasing number of international players and much more investment into the sport as a whole. The club's continued success saw a number of other Midrasian teams purchased by foreign investors. This expansion of Midrasian football also saw much greater commercialisation of the sport and greater broadcasting of Midrasian games. By the new millennium, Olympique had won a total of eighteen league titles making it the most successful club in Midrasian history. However, the 3-1 defeat of the club in the 1999 Super Cup final at the hands of FC Ibbené is viewed by many as the end of the club's unparalleled dominance of Midrasian football.
Today Olympique is seen to have maintained its position in the top flight of Midrasian football, despite a small setback in the early 2000s. The club has been able to win five more league titles since the millennium, including the 2016-17 season under manager Álvaro Câmara. New investment has allowed the club to target key talent and the international prestige the club wields makes it a lucrative target for the greatest football players in Aeia. The club's recent success in the FFA Champions Cup has also confirmed the club's place as one of the most successful and profitable in Aeia.
Stadium
Initially, Olympique de Lotrique played at a stadium called the Parc Blanc in the suburb of Helorie to the north of central Lotrič. Constructed in 1878 as a multi-purpose athletics facility, the football pitch present at the time was little more than a field surrounded by a running track. The field was also used at the time by the club for other sports such as rugby and cricket. The stadium itself had a capacity of around 10,000 however in the very early year's spectators very rarely filled half of the stadium. Throughout its usage, the stadium was renowned for its wretched conditions, being heavily blighted by its use in rugby fixtures, which regularly took place immediately before football matches.
In 1915, with the club now competing full time in the Midrasian football league, it was decided that a new stadium would be required to house the football team, separate from the wider athletics association. After scouting several sites, a location was chosen in the emerging district of Noulit in north-western Lotrič. The new stadium was named Parc Nouveau and held a capacity of just short of 30,000, allowing the stadium to handle the increased number of spectators turning up to matches. It was during their tenure at the Parc Nouveau that Olympique confirmed their place as a top-tier side with regular finishes in the top 10 and a league title in 1929. The stadium was however heavily damaged after the Bloody Month of 1937 requiring a number of repairs to re-enter service. However, upon completion it was discovered that many repairs had been botched, owing to the club's poor financial situation. Many of these issues were covered-up by the club until the North stand collapse of 1952, during which 112 spectators were killed.
Following the ownership change after the stand collapse, it was decided that the entire stadium would have to be demolished and rebuilt. It was during this time that the stadium was renamed to the Arène d'Aurelie after player-manager Henri Aurelie. The stadium was extensively redesigned upon its reconstruction, increasing capacity to around 50,000 standing. Costing around Đ500,000, the project was mostly bankrolled by new owners Pallas Group and was seen as an attempt to revitalise a club which had been struggling in recent years. The new investment was seen as a considerable success, allowing the club to bring in additional revenue through the increased number of spectators and also saw the club achieve considerable success in the domestic league. In 1985 the stadium was converted to all-seater in order to abide with new health and safety regulation brought out by the Republican government. This redevelopment reduced the stadiums capacity to 42,000, however in light of the club's considerable domestic and international success, plans were drafted to increase this number.
In 1997 the stadium was redeveloped and modernised, taking its capacity to around 68,000, making it the largest stadium in the country at the time, other than the Stade Nationale. The redevelopment was also accompanied by considerable infrastructural improvements in the areas surrounding the station, including the expansion of nearby metro stations and new housing and commercial developments in the area, such as the Olympique food court and shopping centre. The stadium was renamed the Arène de Xambar in 2007 as part of a new sponsorship deal with the Xambar group. Whilst the move was initially met with much hostility from fans, plans to name the southern stand after Aurelie, reduce ticket prices and increase stadium capacity to around 72,000 saw most opposition die down. In 2010 the stadium's capacity was increased to 72,164 after a redesign of the Aurelie stand.
Badge and colours
The club's badge has gone through a number of redesigns, however, has throughout its history maintained the navy and burgundy colour scheme of the city of Lotrič. The badge has usually always featured in one form or another the fleur de lis as its central component. The club has always maintained its spelling as Lotrique in spite of 1900 language standardisation identifying Lotrič as the official designation of the city. This move was done to differentiate the club from its rival AC Lotrič, but also due to the continued widespread usage of the Lotrique spelling among certain circles. The crest of the club was redesigned following the club's victory in the 2017 FFA Champions Cup. The new logo features a design inspired by the art deco movement which has seen somewhat of a revival in recent years. The fleur de lis was completely redesigned in this style and features the Midrasian colours. Gold trims were also added to areas of the badge, along with the star to represent the club's Champions cup title.
The club has played in its iconic navy and burgundy colour scheme since 1921. Before this, the club played in black and white, though changed its scheme to associate the club more with the city of Lotrič itself. Initially the club utilised navy jerseys for home games and burgundy for away games, however, in 1969 the club began to use navy with a burgundy stripe through the middle as its home jersey. This has throughout the club's history been the case, except in a number of circumstances, where the home kit has utilised a half-navy, half-burgundy colour scheme. In recent years the team's away jersey has been yellow, with a blue stripe. However, in 2017 the away kit was redesigned to a white and gold colour scheme to represent the club's victory in the Champions Cup.
Players
Current Squad
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Out on loan
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Reserve Squad
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