The club is the result of a merger betweenFC Ouchy-Olympic andFC Stade Lausanne in 2001.
Table rankings of Stade Lausanne-Ouchy in the Swiss football league system
FC Ouchy-Olympic's story began in 1895 asFC La Villa Ouchy. As founding members of theSwiss Football Association, they competed in the firstSerie A season during1897–98, but later mostly played in the lower divisions.[1] The initial forerunner to the latter club was founded in 1901 asFC Signal Lausanne, which becameStade Lausanne in 1926, also introducingathletics,field hockey andshooting sports departments.[2][3][4] They competed in the second division and narrowly failed to achieve promotion to the Serie A in 1929.[1]Henri Guisan acted as president between 1929 and 1939, when his position became honorary as he led theSwiss army's mobilization duringWorld War II. He emphasized the importance of sport to stay healthy, for civilians but especially soldiers.[4][5] They continued to compete in the lower divisions following his departure, playing in the1. Liga as late as 1963–64.[6]
After the two clubs combined, they were eventually promoted to the2. Liga Interregional in 2005, where they stayed until 2014.[1] They reached thePromotion League by 2017, where they had a notablecup run in the2017–18 season, beating first division sideFC Sion to reach the round of 16.[7] After promotion to the Challenge League, the club was forced to relocate outside the city toNyon as their previous pitch failed to meet the requirements for professional football,[8] but now play atStade Olympique de la Pontaise.[9]
In the2022–23 season, following a strong season that had the team in the top half of the table for the majority of the time, they managed to jump to third place in the final rounds and qualified for the promotion play-off againstFC Sion. They won the first leg in Sion with 2–0 and won the second leg at home with 4–2 and thus with an aggregate score of 6–2, secured promotion to theSwiss Super League for the first time in history from next season.[10] Their stay in the Swiss top flight would prove to be a short one, as the club was relegated at the end of theseason as the last placed team.[11]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Dalibor Stevanović[12]
Manuel Pereira
