Lyon

The Club des Patineurs Lyonnais, who built the Patinoire Charlemagne in 1967 and won Division 2 there in 1972 and 1989, went bankrupt in May 1997 through financial mismanagement. The Lyon Hockey Club was founded straight away as its successor and took the nickname Les Lions from the city's emblem. It finished third in the Ligue Magnus in both 1997 and 1998. By 2000 the money had run out again and the club dropped to Division 3.

The best years came later. In 2014 the Lions won the Division 1 title, and they added the Coupe de France in 2018. Between those two, in 2016, they played a Winter Game outdoors at Parc OL. In 2019 the professional team was dissolved for failing to meet financial criteria, and it was back in Division 3. The club was restarted in 2021 and won Division 2 in 2025.

Behind the current club stands an older Lyon team. Ice hockey was played in the city as early as 1898, on a rink on the Boulevard des Belges. The Sporting Club de Lyon won the French championship there in 1905 and 1908. The rink became a museum in 1909, and the city then went 44 years without a team, until the Club des Patineurs Lyonnais was founded in 1953.