FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy, sometimes referred to as SLO, is a Swiss football club based in Ouchy, Lausanne. They will play in the Challenge League from 2024 after relegation from Super League in 2023–24.
The club is the result of a merger between FC Ouchy-Olympic and FC Stade Lausanne in 2001.
Table rankings of Stade Lausanne-Ouchy in the Swiss football league system
FC Ouchy-Olympic's story began in 1895 as FC La Villa Ouchy. As founding members of the Swiss Football Association, they competed in the first Serie A season during 1897–98, but later mostly played in the lower divisions.[1] The initial forerunner to the latter club was founded in 1901 as FC Signal Lausanne, which became Stade Lausanne in 1926, also introducing athletics, field hockey and shooting 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 the Swiss army's mobilization during World 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 the 1. Liga as late as 1963–64.[6]
After the two clubs combined, they were eventually promoted to the 2. Liga Interregional in 2005, where they stayed until 2014.[1] They reached the Promotion League by 2017, where they had a notable cup run in the 2017–18 season, beating first division side FC Sion to reach the round of 16.[7] After promotion to the Challenge League, the club was forced to relocate outside the city to Nyon as their previous pitch failed to meet the requirements for professional football,[8] but now play at Stade Olympique de la Pontaise.[9]
In the 2022–23 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 against FC 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 the Swiss 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 the season as the last placed team.[11]
Dalibor Stevanović[12]
Manuel Pereira
