Who was Fleury di Nallo? Remembering the Lyon Legend
With a beautiful tifo displayed at the Groupama Stadium on Sunday, Olympique Lyonnais honored Fleury di Nallo, their all-time leading scorer, after his passing last week. Learn more about the legendary forward in our latest.
A legend from the start
Born in German-occupied Lyon during the Second World War, Fleury di Nallo played fourteen seasons for his hometown club, scoring an incredible 222 goals in 489 matches, both totals made more impressive by the club being a mid-table side who scarcely played in Europe. Nicknamed "Le petit prince de Gerland," Di Nallo was born to an Italian family with roots in the country's south, and was a regular at the stadium by the age of ten, before joining the club's academy at the age of 14.
It was a short jump from there to the first team, though, and made his debut for Les Gones, appropriately enough, at just 17, and quickly became a first-choice player. In his first full season with the club, he reached the impressive 20 goal benchmark, and helped the team reach the final of the Coupe de France in the next season, already a talisman despite being just twenty years old. Undersized at just 5' 6", he had already won a first international cap, scoring a brace against Hungary, but the best was yet to come.
Le tifo légendaire de l’@OL en hommage à Fleury Di Nallo 💫 pic.twitter.com/pxzgEkJTxn
— Ligue 1 McDonald's (@Ligue1) May 17, 2026
Three titles with Lyon
While his France career would come to a premature end after a bad tackle left him with a serious leg injury, he would continue to star for Lyon, winning three Coupe de France titles (and reaching a further two finals in 1964, 1967 and 1973. The latter of these was achieved as part of Lyon's famous attacking trio. Alongside Serge Chiesa and Bernard Lacombe, the three would score more than 500 goals for the club, marking the most successful period in the club's history before Jean-Michel Aulas' takeover in the late 1980s.
He would eventually leave Lyon at the age of 32, and finish his career with spells at Red Star and Montpellier -- then playing in the amateur ranks. He would return to Lyon as a sporting director, unearthing players like Rémi Garde and Jean Tigana before finishing his career with La Paillade in the same role. Despite being dogged by scandal in his later years, Di Nallo remained a revered figure among the Lyon faithful, and his passing marks the end of a truly legendary life in football.
