The defending champions have already won everything, in multiple copies and yet no reason to stop the harvest of titles that accumulate in the Rhone for a decade. Favorite to its own succession, Olympique Lyonnais still seems far from its direct opponents who like every year will still have the right to dream ...

For Lyon, summer began with what looked like a break from the century. Four players from PSG joined the ranks of Lyon for the upcoming season. Four experienced internationals, Caroline Seger, Kenza Dali, Jessica Houara Hommeaux and Kheira Hamraoui came to Lyon simply ... to win. This "something" that was missing in Paris, they went to get him to Lyon, responsible for the biggest defeat of Paris in the Champions League with this 7-0 suffered at Parc OL in the semifinals.

Another player to join the Lyon squad, Dzsenifer Marozsan was also in a comparable situation. Despite the win last year in the Champions League, Frankfurt, his former club seemed to be losing momentum both in the Bundesliga and in the European Cup, against Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich. Recent Olympic champion with Germany, she scored the two goals of the victory in the final after a complicated tournament for the neo-Lyon.

Caroline Seger and Dzsenifer Marozsan compete in the final of the Olympic Games in Rio. They will wear the same jersey this season at OL

The other two Lyon rookies, Andrea Norheim and Erin Nayler are also international. Andrea Norheim recently played in the Euro U17 with Norway (semi-finalist) and Erin Nayler is the guardian of the New Zealand team that France has crossed in the pool phase, this summer at the Olympic Games.

If these arrivals seem, almost mechanically, to place OL above the fray, they also represent a necessity for Lyon in order to "maintain" the level of its workforce. With the departures of Lotta Schelin, Amandine Henry and Louisa Cadamuro, OL also loses players of high quality during this offseason. Just for the past season, we can remember the decisive goal of Louisa Cadamuro in the final of the Coupe de France or the replacement of Amandine Henry third axial defender in the final of the Champions League, a choice that also proved decisive for OL.

While some players from the Lyon team have found a place in the professional workforce, they are counting on the fingers of the hand, with players like Delphine Cascarino, Mylene Tarrieu or Julie Piga. A finding that is confirmed in selection with a France U19 team that in its eleven holders had more players from Paris than Lyon (including Estelle Cascarino who joined Juvisy this summer). The recruitment of renowned players was therefore also a necessity for OL and its ambitions.

"The best team in the world"
This expression is what we can expect when we talk with fans but also with the opponents of OL. In the league, playing Olympique Lyonnais is a game apart, an opportunity to confront what is currently best in women's football club, both in France and Europe. At the end of a season crowned with a new tripling, Olympique Lyonnais can hardly do better in terms of results. In terms of the game, OL has also shown its ability to trouble any team. In the league, the direct opponents of OL (PSG in particular) are often reduced to clinging in their last 30 meters hoping for a save or a savvy shot.

Ada Hegerberg, 54 goals with Lyon in the 2015/2016 season, who says better?

Therefore, difficult to imagine another team than Lyon at the top of the championship. Despite the arrival of Patrice Lair at PSG and the renewal announced, OL seems even better prepared, especially on the offensive plan with Ada Hegerberg, awarded this summer the prize for best UEFA player of the season 2015/2016. Lyon this year must prepare for a month of December gala, with three matches in a row against Juvisy, Montpellier and PSG, including two trips in the Paris region. A sequence that will salivate the competitors are the players of Lyon but can also give ideas to their opponents in their desire to stumble champions defending.

The only question concerns perhaps French internationals, many in the Lyon workforce. For the most part, they wanted to resume training as quickly as possible and somehow move on, evacuate the frustration accumulated after the disappointment of the Games. A state of mind that we felt, during the speech of Wendie Renard, Tuesday during the ceremony presentation of the D1 season at the FFF headquarters. What impact will the Brazilian sequence have on Lyon's tricolores? Difficult to answer even if we know that some players drag physical glitches, like the image of Elodie Thomis, unavailable for three months following an injury to the ankle. Long seasons for the players who accumulate Lyon often matches in club and selection, an equation become a banality for the Lyon staff but that the moment could make the difference between a new triumph and a more difficult season than expected.