The shirts used by Lyon's players are different to those presented in the summer and those available to buy. Let's have a detailed look at why there are two versions of the Adidas Olympique Lyonnais' home shirt.
Hyundai Not Happy With Red Logo Background
As French Olympique Lyonnais' fan site Olympique et Lyonnais ! reports, everything started from an error in the development of the jersey. On the original version, which is still sold today to the general public, the Hyundai ellipse is white on a red background, while the color of Hyundai is blue. The choice would have triggered a small diplomatic incident since red is also the color of Kia, which belongs to the same group as Hyundai. The two brands always wanted to mark their difference and therefore the OL jersey was confusing.
OL decided to make changes so that the H was blue, with a white edge on a red background, without modifying the jerseys for the public whose production was already launched. One of the few ways to get a jersey seen in matches is to get one from a player.
OL and Hyundai are already working on a new jersey for next season "that will suit everyone", according to the club. Olympique Lyonnais also confirmed that sponsorless shirts exist for certain internal operations, but that they can not be sold because of contract with the partners.
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