Groupama Stadium at 10, Aulas reflects on OL’s marathon build | OneFootball

Groupama Stadium marks 10 years since opening, the culmination of a drawn-out project.

It opened on 9 January 2016 with OL against Troyes. According to Le Progres, securing land, navigating approvals and assembling finance stretched the dossier beyond 10 years, even though construction lasted three years.

Conceived at the height of Lyon’s dominance in French football, the scheme met repeated obstacles before it finally rose from the ground.

In his book Chaque jour se réinventer, Jean-Michel Aulas calls it the hardest project of his life, describing a long road filled with hurdles and arguing that without his constant defence it would not have happened.

He also acknowledges that he underestimated the administrative and legal burden, with nearly 110 appeals from opponents, and says that had he realised the scale he might have hesitated to commit at the outset.

Source: Le Progres