| Other names | Le Derby |
|---|---|
| Location | Rhône-Alpes, France |
| Teams | |
| First meeting | 28 October 1951 Division 1 Lyon 4–2 Saint-Étienne |
| Latest meeting | 20 April 2025 Ligue 1 Saint-Étienne 2–1 Lyon |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 126 |
| Most wins | Lyon (47) |
| Most player appearances | Serge Chiesa (28) |
| Top scorer | Hervé Revelli Fleury Di Nallo (14 each)[1] |
| Largest victory | Lyon 1–7 Saint-Étienne French Division 1 (5 October 1969) |
TheOlympique Lyonnais–AS Saint-Étienne rivalry, is afootball rivalry between French clubsOlympique Lyonnais andAS Saint-Étienne, with matches between them referred to as theDerby rhônalpin or simplyLe Derby.[2] Both clubs are located in theregion ofAuvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The term Derby du Rhône is sometimes mistakenly used by French media,[3] despite the city ofSaint-Étienne not being located along theRhône River nor in theRhônedépartement.
The two clubs first met in 1951 and, due to the clubs' close proximity, being separated by only 50 kilometres (31 mi), a hotly contested rivalry developed.[4] The derby is cited as one of the high-points of theLigue 1 season and, like other major rivalries, extends outside of the pitch. The rivalry is considered a symbolic challenge between the two cities locally, as the city of Lyon is consideredwhite collar while its counterpart Saint-Étienne is viewed by the locals as moreblue collar.[2]
During the 20th century, Saint-Étienne was the most successful club inFrench football winning ten league titles between 1957 and 1981, a record that stood untilParis Saint-Germain overtook them in 2023. During that span, the club also won sixCoupe de France titles and performed well at theEuropean level.[2] However, the club's performance declined in the 1980s and it even suffered relegations tothe second division in both 1984 and 2022, causing its stranglehold on the national and regional consciousness to weaken. Lyon began a similar ascension intoFrench football at the beginning of the new millennium when the club won their first-ever Ligue 1 championship in 2002. The initial title started a national record-setting streak of seven successive titles.
Currently, both clubs are among the best-supported in Ligue 1, and each has participated in European competition in recent years.
| Competition | Matches | Winners | Goals scored | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lyon | Draw | Saint-Étienne | Lyon | Saint-Étienne | |||
| League | Ligue 1 | 114 | 42 | 32 | 40 | 137 | 141 |
| Ligue 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | |
| Coupe de France | 5 | 3 | 1[5] | 1 | 9 | 3 | |
| Coupe Charles Drago | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | |
| Trophée des Champions | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| Coupe de la Ligue | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| Total | 126 | 47 | 34 | 45 | 151 | 159 | |
Due to the clubs' ongoing rivalry, few players have played for Lyon and Saint-Étienne. Since the two clubs first contested each other in 1951, only 27 players have played for both Lyon and Saint-Étienne and only 13 players have transferred directly from Lyon to Saint-Étienne andvice versa. The first player to "commit" the offense was Antoine Rodriguez in 1951, when after having a nine-year spell at Saint-Étienne, he moved to Lyon, where he spent only one season. Other notable players who made the switch wereAimé Jacquet who, after having a successful 13-year career with Saint-Étienne, departed the club for Lyon, where he spent three seasons. Jacquet later went on to manage Lyon and coached the team to the1973 Coupe de France Final. Similarly,strikerBernard Lacombe established himself as one of Lyon's all-time leading goalscorers before leaving the club for Saint-Étienne in 1978 where he was often booed and jeered, which led to the player departing the club forBordeaux after one season. The other players who transferred directly between clubs areFrançois Lemasson,Alain Moizan, André Calligaris,Romarin Billong,Jean-Luc Sassus, Christopher Deguerville,Grégory Coupet, Franck Priou,Lamine Diatta andBafétimbi Gomis.Steed Malbranque, a product of Lyon youth system and a former Lyon first-team regular, signed for Saint-Étienne fromSunderland, but then resigned after one month, allegedly calling quit to his career. He surprisingly signed for Lyon a few months later.

| Name | Pos | Lyon | Saint-Étienne | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Career | Apps | Goals | Career | Apps | Goals | ||
| FW | 1969–78 | 230 | 128 | 1978–79 | 32 | 14 | |
| MF | 1980–82 | – | – | 1982–84 | – | – | |
| MF | 1980–88 | – | – | 1988–90 | – | – | |
| MF | 1986–88 | 53 | 15 | 1995 | 10 | 3 | |
| DF | 1988–95 | 111 | 5 | 1995–2000 | 102 | 5 | |
| DF | 1992–93 | – | – | 1995–96 | – | – | |
| DF | 1994–97 | – | – | 1997–98 | – | – | |
| MF | 1996–2000 | 3 | 0 | 2001–06 | 167 | 14 | |
| DF | 1997–98 | 3 | 0 | 2003–04 | 24 | 0 | |
| DF | 1997–2000 | 101 | 6 | 2001–05 | 100 | 16 | |
| DF | 2004–06 | 40 | 0 | 2006–08 | 27 | 1 | |
| DF | 2005–06 | 19 | 0 | 2008–12 | 30 | 0 | |
| MF | 1997–01 | 110 | 10 | 2011–12 | 1 | 0 | |
| MF | 2007–10 | 91 | 8 | 2013 | 16 | 2 | |
| DF | 2005–09 | 78 | 1 | 2012–15 | 85 | 3 | |
| MF | 2004–06 | 54 | 1 | 2011–17 | 192 | 1 | |
| DF | 2008–12 | 14 | 0 | 2018–22 | 122 | 7 | |
| FW | 2018–22 | 2 | 0 | 2022–23 | 22 | 1 | |

| Name | Pos | Saint-Étienne | Lyon | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Career | Apps | Goals | Career | Apps | Goals | ||
| DF | 1945–49 | – | – | 1950–52 | – | – | |
| DF | 1942–51 | – | – | 1951–52 | – | – | |
| DF | 1957–60 | – | – | 1960–61 | – | – | |
| MF | 1960–73 | 176 | 12 | 1973–76 | 26 | 2 | |
| FW | 1962–65 | 82 | 52 | 1967–71 | 116 | 66 | |
| MF | 1969–73 | – | – | 1976–80 | – | – | |
| MF | 1973–83 | 167 | 36 | 1984–85 | 27 | 1 | |
| MF | 1977–78 | – | – | 1979–80 | – | – | |
| DF | 1981–88 | – | – | 1992–93 | – | – | |
| GK | 1986–87 | 5 | 0 | 1987–90 | 101 | 0 | |
| DF | 1987–95 | – | – | 1995–97 | – | – | |
| GK | 1993–97 | 88 | 0 | 1997–2008 | 518 | 0 | |
| FW | 2004–07 | 97 | 27 | 2008–09 | 26 | 4 | |
| DF | 2010 | 18 | 1 | 2010–11 | 3 | 0 | |
| FW | 2003–09 | 162 | 49 | 2009–14 | 244 | 95 | |
| MF | 2011–12 | 1 | 0 | 2012–14 | 129 | 9 | |
| DF | 2005–10 | 123 | 1 | 2011–15 | 91 | 1 | |
| MF | 2016–17 | 43 | 4 | 2024–present | 38 | 2 | |