Michele Kang, a feminist billionaire at the head of Olympique Lyonnais

With the setbacks of its players, relegated to Ligue 2 before an appeal that should be considered in July, and the series of successes of its female players (eight Champions Leagues and eighteen French championship titles since 2007), the Lyon football scene is increasingly dominated by women. And it is precisely a woman, Michele Kang, who is responsible for getting Olympique Lyonnais out of the very bad patch in which the club has found itself.

On Monday, June 30, the 66-year-old American businesswoman, born in Seoul, South Korea, became the first female president of a men's professional football club in France. Appointed to head Olympique Lyonnais and Eagle Football Group, formerly OL Groupe, she replaces her compatriot John Textor, who remains the owner.

Michele Kang also manages the former women's section of the Rhône club, which she bought in 2023 for around fifty million euros, and which she renamed OL Lyonnes in May, after winning an ^18th national title. "We are redefining what is possible for women's football ," she explained in an interview with Le Monde in May 2025. "No one imagined that a women's team could be separated from a men's team."

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