Lens were in Ligue 2 three years ago. Now they’re in the Champions League
As he buried his first penalty of the season – for his 20th goal overall – there was only one way for Lens striker Loïs Openda to celebrate. The Belgian striker had just equalled Roger Boli’s record goal tally over a single campaign for the club and proceeded to mimic the Franco-Ivorian striker’s iconic aeroplane celebration.
The goal – the third in a 3-0 victory over already relegated Ajaccio – secured the team’s spot in next season’s Champions League. The anthem for that competition provided the background music to the celebrations at the final whistle as the Ligue 1 runners-up revelled in their most successful campaign in 25 years. Lenshave become one of the very few underdogs to upset French football’s established hierarchy of European qualifiers over the past few decades.
Openda’s celebration is no novelty for Lens. Callbacks to the team’s past are a hallmark of every home match, and every new signing is instantly immersed in the local fervour and encouraged to take part. From the pre-match anthems to the kit designs, reminders of the area’s mining past are ubiquitous.
One of many post-industrial towns in an area with an overall population of one million, Lens welcomes a concentrate of regional pride that bursts out of the stands on matchdays.
The fact that the club wears that heritage so prominently on its sleeve lends itself to the obvious metaphor – Lens have climbed out of the bottom of the pit after two decades of obscurity. Now, their ambition will be to start scaling the proverbial terrils – the distinctive spoil tips that define the northern town’s surrounding landscape – of European football that stand before them next season.
On several occasions, that mine threatened to collapse into itself – notably during the opaque ownership of Azerbaijani businessman Hafiz Mammadov. On taking up the club presidency in 2019, back when the club was still in Ligue 2, Franco-Armenian businessman Joseph Oughourlian had spoken of his “dream” of bringing European football back to the Stade Bollaert – four years later, that ambition is a reality.
Lens’ return to Europe is well deserved. They have won 10 of their last 11 games, boast the best defence in Ligue 1 and have only lost once at home all season. After two seasons of agonisingly near misses – consecutive seventh-placed finishes – the 1998 title winners, who were in the second tier just three years ago, have come a long way. The club’s success has been anything but an accident.
Their astute squad-building has stood in stark contrast to the scattergun transfer market approach of title rivals PSG. When captain Séko Fofana’s midfield partner Cheick Doucouré left for Crystal Palace last summer, the club signed Salis Abdul Samed from Clermont.
The midfielder, who is now a Ghana international, has since emerged as one of the league’s finest operators, and is crucial to the team’s all-action approach and quick transitions. Joining Lens has seen Abdul Samed continue his development into a midfielder who can blend defensive resolve and attacking drive with ease. “I’m more confident now,” he says. “I really feel free in the way I play here.”
On the touchline, Franck Haise enjoys a remit that is unmatched in French football – under the title of general manager, his role resembles that of a Premier League manager, more so than the head coach position his Ligue 1 colleagues occupy. This all-encompassing position was only made official when he signed a contract renewal earlier this season, but it’s been clear for a while now that his influence permeates across the club.
The entire team, and all 38,000 of the fans in the Stade Bollaert, have bought into his incisive and dynamic style of play. Although he has remained slightly evasive with regard to his future, it would be hard to imagine Lens taking to the pitch for their first Champions League game after 20 years away without Haise in the dugout.
Given their taste for the big games this season – they have convincingly beaten PSG, Marseille and Monaco on their way to second place – they will not