#FFXIV
The REAL power behind the North Korean throne revealed
The REAL power behind the North Korean throne revealed: Explosive new book exposes Kim Jong-un's little-known sister as a ruthless psychopath who executes officials for 'getting on her nerves' and is tipped to succeed him as dictator
By TOM LEONARD FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 08:37 EDT, 25 June 2023 | UPDATED: 09:03 EDT, 25 June 2023
Always careful to walk at least several paces behind her baby-faced brother and keep out of shot if cameras are around, she looks so pale and fragile that its seems a strong wind might knock her down.
Indeed, compared to her obese and surly-looking sibling – North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un – she seems a gentle soul, charming even, who couldn’t hurt a fly.
When her brother met President Trump for a historic summit in 2019, she was seen shyly peering out from behind a wall. Observers thought it almost adorable.
And yet – according to a ground-breaking and revealing new book – those who judge Kim Yo-jong on appearances may be making a fatal mistake.
Believed to be 35, the youngest child of former North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il is actually a ruthless political operator (even by her brutal family’s standards) who some tip to succeed her brother and who their father regarded as the most able of his offspring.
Yo-jong may even be heading for an explosive power struggle with her niece – Jong-un’s daughter Ju-ae – who is thought to be just 10 but has already been publicly hailed as her father’s heir apparent.
But judging by what this new book reveals about Aunt Yo-jong with her ‘trademark Mona Lisa smirk’, it would be foolish to assume that little Ju-ae will one day be sitting on the throne of the Hermit Kingdom.
For Yo-jong, say North Korea experts, is ‘the brains behind the operation’ – and terrifying brains, at that.
According to US academic Sung-Yoon Lee, whose new book ‘The Sister’ provides the first detailed insight into Yo-jong, it’s not for nothing that some Pyongyang officials have nicknamed her ‘bloodthirsty demon’ and ‘the devil woman’.
The de facto second-in-command to her brother, Yo-jong can have even the most senior government officials executed on just a word.
In 2021, she was elevated to the nation’s most powerful body – the State Affairs Commission. And since then, Lee says, she has had ‘the ultimate power of the cruel dictator; the power to play God and decide who lives and who is killed’.
Doted on from childhood, Yo-jong was largely hidden from public view for decades. But in 2018, she sparked a media frenzy when she attended the Winter Olympics in South Korea as her country's official representative and was pictured sitting close to Vice President Mike Pence.
Journalists hailed a glamour, delicacy and charm so lacking in her dumpy brother and many wondered if North Korea could finally be veering away from its dreadful past.
Instead, predicts Lee, Yo-jong is her 39-year-old brother’s zealous and spittle-flecked chief propagandist and is potentially ‘fiercer and more ruthless’ than him.
And, given his health problems with suspected heart disease, diabetes and obesity – the regime as good as admitted he was nearly killed by Covid-19 – North Korea may need a new leader sooner than expected.
Of course, obtaining information about the ferociously secretive dictatorship is immensely difficult but in 2021 Yo-jong reportedly ‘ordered several executions of high-ranking government officials for merely “getting on her nerves”.’
Those she found ‘less disagreeable’ were simply banished – along with their entirely innocent families – to detention camps and gulags, ‘where a life of grueling forced labour, beatings, torture and starvation rations awaited’.
According to Lee, rumors of Yo-jong’s ‘impulse to purge and kill’ soon became so rife that top officials started holding their breath in her presence. If she approached them they would avert their gaze or stare at the floor.
Ignoring her is apparently far safer than trying to win her praise – for ‘just being recognized by her might in due course lead to a fall from favor and a brush with death’.
A computer science graduate, Yo-jong doesn’t reserve her bloodthirsty impulses just for cowering officials. On the few occasions she’s been allowed to show her teeth on the international stage, she’s left little doubt that her finger on Pyongyang’s nuclear button would be every bit as unsettling as her saber-rattling brother’s.
In April last year, the First Sister dropped the sweetness act and warned South Korea that if its military ‘violated even an inch of our territory, our nuclear combat force will have to inevitably carry out its duty… and a dreadful attack will be launched’.
The South Korean army, she added, ‘will have to face a miserable fate little short of total destruction’.
As the head of propaganda, she has also demonstrated a knack for concocting particularly vile blasts against her nation’s enemies.
When, 2014, South Korea elected their first female leader, Pyongyang state media carried quotes calling her a ‘wicked sycophant’, ‘dirty old prostitute’ and ‘capricious whore’.
President Obama was outrageously branded a ‘wicked black monkey’, and a gay High Court justice in Australia was labelled a ‘disgusting old lecher with a 40-odd-year-long career of homosexuality’.
All of the comments were either written or signed off by Yo-jong.
Certainly, she’s come a long way since 2011 when her brother succeeded their father. At the time, few people outside Pyongyang even knew her name.
North Korea is also a staunchly patriarchal society. And one in which, for all its socialist pretensions, women generally look after the family at home while the men handle the politics.
Nonetheless Yo-jong’s own parents were said to be the first to recognise she was special. Even if they felt they couldn’t acknowledge it in public – her father instead elevating her underwhelming, basketball-obsessed brother.
Kim Jong-il had seven children by four women, either wives or concubines, but he reserved his chief affection for a dancer named Ko Yong-hui who bore him both Jong-un and Yo-jong.
Yo-jong’s own parents were said to be the first to recognise she was special. Even if they felt they couldn’t acknowledge it in public. (Pictured: Female North Korean soldiers march in parade).
They and elder brother Kim Jong-chul lived in the ruling family’s gated compound, given every luxury including the best food and toys money could buy, while their countrymen and women languished in poverty.
Up to the early 2000s, Jong-chul was all but set to succeed their father – until it was announced in 2009 that he wasn’t.
According to the family’s sushi chef, his father suddenly decided Jong-chul was ‘no good because he is like a little girl’.
And while Jong-chul reportedly now lives a quiet life in Pyongyang, appearing at occasional Eric Clapton concerts as far afield as Singapore and London, the actual ‘little girl’ in the family was clearly made of sterner stuff.
As a child, she was addressed by her proud parents as ‘sweet princess’ despite having a reputation for being strong-willed and stubborn.
Interestingly, the couple referred to their sons as ‘Big Brother’ (Jong-chul) and ‘Little Brother’ (Jong-un), in other words from the perspective of their sister.
Soon after she was born in 1987, she became the ‘axis of the royal family’, always sitting next to her father at meals while her brothers sat further down the table.
By the age of eight she was sufficiently sure of herself to fire her personal aide. Aged nine, she physically dragged her older brother – who was 16 – out of a women-only theatre on their family estate after he sneaked in.
She and her brothers were sent to be schooled in Switzerland, using pseudonyms and pretending to be the children of North Korean diplomats.
Her father was a psychopath who had his own half-brother Hyon murdered in 2007 to protect his children’s succession right. In the 1980s he attempted to assassinate the South Korean president and blew up a passenger plane in mid-air as one of many terrorist acts.
Lee says Jong-un and Yo-jong have clearly both inherited his murderous instincts. Indeed, Jong-un is suspected of having his own half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, assassinated in Kuala Lumpur airport with nerve agent in 2017.
Quite what his sister would be capable of is yet to be seen. But in the meantime she remains an increasingly powerful and vindictive presence in the background.
Even aged 21, when she was spotted trailing her father to an important meeting with Bill Clinton, it is thought she was already playing a key role in government.
And, unlike her Supreme Leader brother, she can speak English – a notable advantage when it comes to global politics.
When, during a meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2018, the US delegation cracked a joke, she laughed while Kim Jong-un stared blankly ahead, clearly not understanding.
This may be one of the reasons as to why Jong-un clearly depends on his sister and keeps her close.
During the funeral eulogy for Kim Jong-il in 2011, his daughter – evidently overcome with emotion – suddenly left the official line-up.
For anyone else, such an outrageous break with protocol at a sacred ceremony would have been considered even worse than ‘half-hearted clapping’ and punishable by death.
But, from the earliest days of her brother’s rule, Yo-jong has been ‘untouchable’, says Lee.
Not that ordinary North Koreans would have known: state media never mentioned her once until March 2014 and that was only to say she’d cast a vote for her brother in an ‘election’.
She was mentioned twice more that month when she accompanied Jong-un to concerts. On both occasions, her name came last in the list of more than a dozen attendees and with no reference to her ‘blue blood’.
All considered then, it’s hardly surprising that her private life remains a mystery.
In 2018, during the trip to South Korea for the Winter Olympics, she appeared on one occasion without a coat and seemed to have a slight bulge around her abdomen.
Intelligence analysts speculated that she might be pregnant and South Korean media claimed she confirmed as much to Olympics officials. As to the likely father, she reportedly married Choe Song, a government official’s son, in 2014. It’s also claimed she had a child in 2015.
According to Lee, Yo-jong and her brother have devised a ‘good cop, bad cop’ strategy on the world stage whereby she employs her femininity and deceptive charm to offset Jong-un’s surly aggression.
But while it might publicly appear that she’s in a subservient role – standing happily aside and handing her brother a pen for him to sign the historic joint statement with President Trump in Singapore in 2018, for example – once again, appearances can be deceptive.
In 2019, Jong-un took a long train ride to Vietnam for a second meeting with Trump. He and his sister were caught on camera at a rest-stop during the journey, standing by themselves as he had a smoke and she held up a crystal ashtray for him with both hands.
Some commentators said it smacked of her subservience but in fact, says Lee, she was making sure he left no cigarette butts bearing traces of his DNA for foreign intelligence services to examine.
‘No one else, aside from his wife, has such intimate access to the Supreme Leader,’ says Lee.
But will she be loyal forever?
Just as her butter-wouldn’t-melt appearance hides a woman who kills on command and revels in vile abuse, perhaps nothing about Kim Yo-jong can be taken for granted.
USA: 2022-23 CONCACAF Nations League Winners
There is little question as to which national team is the best men’s side in Concacaf.
The U.S. national left little doubt on Sunday night, registering a 2-0 triumph over Canada in the Concacaf Nations League final before a half-filled Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Chris Richards and Flo Balogun scored their first international goals as Gio Reyna set up both goals as the USA finished a perfect four days after dispatching Mexico quite handily in the semifinals on Thursday night, 3-0.
Reyna, however, never had an opportunity to add to his total in the second half as he was forced out of the match halftime after suffering an apparent right ankle injury. Luca de la Torre replaced him.
There also other heroes for the U.S., which defending the first CNL crown it earned in 2021.
Goalkeeper Matt Turner turned away four shots when Canada penetrated the Americans backline. Left back Antonee Robinson was outstanding as was Richards and Walker Zimmerman, who replaced an injured Miles Robinson at center back.
Right Joe Scally, in place of the suspended Sergino Dest (red card), played very well in the back on both sides of the ball. Scally had a strong attacking presence on the flank, picking his spots. After suffering an apparent injury while covering Alphonso Davies, the Lake Grove, N.Y. native was replaced by Austin Trusty in the 79th minute.
The USA also played without midfielder Weston McKennie, who also was red carded in the Mexico win.
It did seem the Americans missed McKennie or Dest, they were so dominant on Sunday night.
The USA started its youngest Starting XI in a final with an average age of 23 years and 314 days old. The Americans’ lineup used three 20-year-old players – Yunus Musah, Reyna and Scally – for the first time to start a final.
The Americans put together another full match, using their speed and well-timed passes to keep the Canadians off balance for a good portion of the night.
In contrast to the win over Mexico, Christian Pulisic did not make much of an impression in the opening half. But Reyna stepped up and assisted on both goals as the Americans grabbed a 2-0 lead.
They kept the pressure on Canada for a good portion of the opening half, winning several corner and free kicks, within striking distance.
The USMNT cashed in in the 12th minute when Richards headed home in a perfect corner kick from Reyna in traffic from yards for a 1-0 lead.
Reyna demonstrated he could do some playmaking from the run of play in the 34th minute as he threaded the needle to an onrushing Balogun, who beat goalkeeper Milan Borjan from eight yards on the right side for his debut goal in his second international appearance.
The Canadians came out pushing forward in the second half, but the U.S. regained possession and put pressure in its attempt to put the game away early on. Borjan saved a pair of Antonee Robinson shots in the 56th minute, parrying the first off of the crossbar for a corner kick, to keep the score at 2-0.
Turner had his moments as well. He denied Cyle Larin in the ninth minute and saved attempts by Stephen Eustaquio and Richie Laryea in the 37th and 39th minutes, respectively. Two minutes into the second half, the Arsenal keeper stopped Ismael Kone’s try.
With the USA winning a major confederation title, head coach B.J. Callaghan and his staff will set their sights on another one later this week. That’s when the USMNT starts its run in the Concacaf Gold Cup. There will be another American squad wearing the red, white and blue as it will face Jamaica in its group opener in Chicago on Saturday, June 24.
Spain: 2022-23 UEFA Nations League Winners
Match in brief: Dogged Croatia finally fall on penalties
The early stages were an exercise for Spain in tempering the exuberance of the Croatia players and their horde of followers inside the stadium. They did just that and nearly made the breakthrough twice in the opening 15 minutes, first when Dominik Livaković spilled Fabián Ruiz's cross-cum-shot against the post and then when Gavi dragged an attempt just wide from the edge of the area.
Keeping this Vatreni outfit quelled has been a problem for many sides in recent years, though, and back they came, Aymeric Laporte and Robin Le Normand forced into last-ditch blocks before Unai Simón sprawled across his goal to keep out Ivan Perišić's header – spirits and volume raised once more.
Zlatko Dalić had shown faith in centre-backs Martin Erlić and Josip Šutalo – just 12 caps between them – and La Roja struggled to create clear-cut chances against the pair, Marco Asensio's flashing header over the bar a rare opportunity early in the second half. Mario Pašalić went closer when heading into the side netting, while Rodri's rasping shot from distance whistled past the target as the contest remained goalless heading into the final quarter of normal time.
Luis de la Fuente turned to the pace and trickery of Ansu Fati, and lucky charm Joselu, but Spain struggled to stamp their authority on the relentless Vatreni, whose industry and threat was epitomised by 34-year-old left-back Ivan Perišić continuing to maraud down the left, then clearing off the line to deny Fati the breakthrough. Asensio swept wide as the clock struck 90 minutes, Spain ending normal time in the ascendancy.
Croatia and extra time have been inseparable friends in recent years, their only blemish coming in their UEFA EURO 2020 round of 16 defeat by Spain, and they looked the more likely to prise an opening even if few were forthcoming. Nacho blocked brilliantly from Lovro Majer while deflections denied Asensio and Rodri as penalties could not be averted.
Six successful spot kicks followed before Unai Simón's outstretched boot repelled Majer's effort, only for Laporte to rattle the bar at match point. Unai Simón kept out Petković next up, paving the way for Dani Carvajal to coolly seal the silverware for La Roja.
Player of the Match: Marcelo Brožović (Croatia)
"His relentless effort both in and out of possession. Connecting attack from back line to the front and working extremely hard defensively covering almost the whole pitch."
UEFA Technical Observer Panel
Elvir Islamović, Croatia reporter
It was a real chess game between the two big teams. Croatia were battling really well, they were controlling the match with a lot of discipline, but eventually they lost on penalties against Spain. This generation missed a big chance to win the first trophy for their country, but they don't have a single reason to be unhappy. This is still a winning team and the best group of players in Croatia's history. After two World Cup medals, they return home with silver in the Nations League and that is something only the best teams can do.
Graham Hunter, Spain reporter
The 'old' Spain, winners of two EUROs and a World Cup in their 'golden age' didn't play like this. They commanded, they controlled. Then they struck. Here, again, La Roja suffered from their modern ailment. No killer touch. Stubborn blue-collar work ethic replaced blue-riband brilliance. Eventually the match was in their grasp. It looked like they were going to keep spurning chances, that they were going to fluff their lines but, in the end, two superb moments from their goalkeeper were enough.
Luis de la Fuente, Spain coach: "We have to bear in mind the 16 best teams in Europe were involved and the best four were in the semi-finals. Getting to the final is a big achievement. We deserve credit. We were up against a top team who are experienced and finished third at the World Cup, so it's a big deal."
Dani Carvajal, Spain defender: "It wasn't me being chosen [to take a penalty] – I put my hand up. I've only ever taken one in my career, in the Spanish Super Cup, but I wanted to take this one. When the game ended, I went to the manager. They were doing a five-player shortlist and I told them that if any of the players were hesitant or weren't confident enough, I would like to take one and, if not, I would take the sixth. In the end, the game gave me the opportunity I wanted."
Rodri, Spain midfielder: "We showed such mental strength as a team. We were really good in the extra time. Above all in the shoot-out. When you you get here this is about winning. We were so competitive. Against a team which eliminated Brazil from the World Cup, which seems to always get to finals. A great team and we managed to compete and then beat them."
Zlatko Dalić, Croatia coach: "First, I congratulate Spain and our players on a great game. Thank you to the fans, as we had great support. We lost – too bad – but we have to be proud. We made it to the final but we didn't win. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. The stakes were high, the game was tough and the opponent was good. We ran again for 120 minutes. We were quality, we competed with them. I have nothing to regret."
Lovro Majer, Croatia midfielder: "We are sad – especially me, because I didn't convert my penalty – but that's football. We gave everything we could but lost on penalties. We did well in the competition."
Key stats
Spain played in the Nations League final for the second successive edition, becoming the first nation to play in the decider on more than one occasion.
La Roja failed to score for only the second time in 20 Nations League matches; for Croatia it was just the second time in 16 games.
Spain have been successful in five of their last seven deciders at current major international final tournaments (EURO, Nations League and World Cup).
La Roja become the second team, after France, to win the EURO, World Cup and Nations League.
At the last two World Cup final tournaments, UEFA EURO 2020 and now here, Croatia have played extra time on eight occasions; they have won six – four on penalties – but lost the other two to Spain.
Line-ups
Croatia: Livaković; Juranović (Stanišić 112), Šutalo, Erlić, Perišić; Modrić, Brozović, Kovačić; Pašalić (Petković 61), Kramarić (Majer 90+1), Ivanušec (Vlašić 78)
Spain: Unai Simón; Jesús Navas (Carvajal 97), Le Normand (Nacho 78), Laporte, Jordi Alba; Rodri, Fabián Ruiz (Merino 78); Asensio, Gavi (Olmo 87), Pino (Fati 66); Morata (Joselu 66)
The teams switch attentions back to qualifying for UEFA EURO 2024 in September, when Croatia face Latvia and Armenia, while Spain take on Georgia and Cyprus.
The next edition of the UEFA Nations League, featuring quarter-finals and promotion/relegation play-offs, begins in September 2024, with the finals the following June.
Vegas Golden Knights: 2022-23 Stanley Cup Champions
LAS VEGAS -- Vegas, baby, Vegas.
The Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup for the first time in their six seasons, defeating the Florida Panthers 9-3 in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.
Mark Stone scored a hat trick, Jack Eichel and Shea Theodore each had three assists, and Reilly Smith had a goal and an assist for Vegas. Adin Hill made 31 saves.
The Golden Knights had seven goal-scorers and 15 players with at least one point.
Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett each had a goal and an assist, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 saves for the Panthers.
Florida played without forward Matthew Tkachuk, its leading scorer in the Stanley Cup Playoffs (24 points; 11 goals, 13 assists), who sustained an injury in Game 3 but played through it in Game 4. The Panthers did not disclose the nature of Tkachuk's injury before Game 5, but it is believed to be to his upper body.
Stone got the Golden Knights started by making it 1-0 with a short-handed goal off a 2-on-1 at 11:52 of the first period. He kept the puck on the rush and waited out Bobrovsky before shooting high to the glove side from in close.
Hill gave the Golden Knights a chance to score first with a left-pad save on Anton Lundell, who was in alone on him, at 2:24, and a save on Aleksander Barkov with his left skate 18 seconds before Stone's goal.
Nicolas Hague gave Vegas a 2-0 lead at 13:41. He came in from the blue line, got to a loose puck in front of Bobrovsky and put it in.
Jonathan Marchessault had an assist on Hague's goal to extend his Golden Knights playoff-record point streak to 10 games (15 points; eight goals, seven assists). He finished as the leading scorer in the playoffs with 25 points (13 goals, 12 assists) in 22 games.
Aaron Ekblad cut it to 2-1 at 2:15 of the second period with a shot through traffic from the right point that beat Hill over his left shoulder.
The Golden Knights scored four goals in the last 9:32 of the second period to put the game out of reach.
Alec Martinez scored from the right face-off circle off a drop pass from Eichel to make it 3-1 at 10:28.
Smith scored 1:45 later to make it 4-1 at 12:13, beating Bobrovsky from the right side after William Karlsson set him up with a no-look, backhanded, between-the-legs pass in the slot.
Stone's second of the game made it 5-1 at 17:15. Chandler Stephenson brought the puck into the zone on the right side and dropped it to Brett Howden, who moved it across to Stone in the left circle. His shot got through Bobrovsky.
Michael Amadio made it 6-1 at 19:58 by scoring from the slot on his own rebound.
Ivan Barbashev extended the lead to 7-1 at 8:22 of the third period. Reinhart cut it to 7-2 25 seconds later at 8:47, and Bennett made it 7-3 at 11:39 with a shot off Alex Pietrangelo's stick.
Stone finished his hat trick with an unassisted, length-of-the-ice empty-net goal to make it 8-3 at 14:06.
Nicolas Roy capped it at 18:58 for the 9-3 final.
Denver Nuggets: 2022-23 NBA Champions
DENVER (AP) Confetti flying in Denver. The Nuggets sharing hugs while passing around the NBA championship trophy.
Those scenes that, for almost a half-century, seemed impossible, then more recently started feeling inevitable, finally turned into reality Monday night.
The Nuggets outlasted the Miami Heat 94-89 in an ugly, frantic Game 5 that did nothing to derail Nikola Jokic, who bailed out his teammates with 28 points and 16 rebounds on a night when nothing else seemed to work.
Jokic became the first player in history to lead the league in points (600), rebounds (269) and assists (190) in a single postseason. Not surprisingly, he won the Bill Russell trophy as the NBA Finals MVP - an award that certainly has more meaning to him than the two overall MVPs he won in 2021 and ’22 and the one that escaped him this year.
“We are not in it for ourselves, we are in it for the guy next to us,” Jokic said. “And that’s why this (means) even more.”
Denver's clincher was a gruesome grind.
Unable to shake the tenacious Heat or their own closing-night jitters, the Nuggets missed 20 of their first 22 3-pointers. They missed seven of their first 13 free throws. They overcame that to take a late seven-point lead, only to see Miami’s Jimmy Butler go off. He scored eight straight points to give the Heat a one-point lead with 2:45 left.
Butler made two free throws with 1:58 remaining to help Miami regain a one-point lead. Then, Bruce Brown got an offensive rebound and tip-in to give the Nuggets an edge they wouldn't give up.
Trailing by three with 15 seconds left, Butler jacked up a 3, but missed it. Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope made two free throws each down the stretch to clinch the title for Denver.
Butler finished with 21 points.
“Those last three or four minutes felt like a scene out of a movie,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Two teams in the center of the ring throwing haymaker after haymaker, and it’s not necessarily shot making. It’s the efforts.”
Grueling as it was, the aftermath was something the Nuggets and their fans could all agree was beautiful. There were fireworks exploding outside Ball Arena at the final buzzer. Denver is the home of the Larry O’Brien Trophy for the first time in the franchise’s 47 years in the league.
“The fans in this town are unbelievable,” said team owner Stan Kroenke, who also owns the Colorado Avalanche, the team that won its third Stanley Cup last year. “It means a lot to us to get this done.”
The Heat were, as Spoelstra promised, a gritty, tenacious bunch. But their shooting wasn’t great, either. Miami shot 34% from the floor and 25% from 3. Until Butler went off, he was 2 for 13 for eight points. Bam Adebayo finished with 20 points.
The Heat, who survived a loss in the play-in tournament and became only the second No. 8 seed to make the finals, insisted they weren’t into consolation prizes.
They played like they expected to win, and for a while during this game, which was settled as much by players diving onto the floor as sweet-looking jump shots, it looked like they would.
The Nuggets, who came in shooting 37.6% from 3 for the series, shot 18% in this one. They committed 14 turnovers.
The tone was set with 2:51 left in the first quarter, when Jokic got his second foul and joined Aaron Gordon on the bench. Jeff Green and Jamal Murray, who finished with 14 points and eight assists on an off night, joined them there, too.
It made the Nuggets tentative on both sides of the court for the rest of the half. Somehow, after shooting 6.7% from 3 - the worst first half in the history of the finals (10-shot minimum) they only trailed by seven.
True to the Nuggets' personality, they kept pressing, came at their opponent in waves and figured out how to win a game that went against their type. Their beautiful game turned into a slugfest, but they figured it out nonetheless.
“What I was most proud about is, throughout the game, if your offense is not working and your shots are not falling, you have to dig in on the defensive end,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
It felt almost perfect that an unheralded and once-chubby second-round draft pick from Serbia would be the one to lift Denver to the top of a league that, for decades, has been dominated by superstars, first-round draft picks and players who lead the world in sneaker and jersey sales.
Over their near five-decade stay in the league, the Nuggets have been the epitome of a lovable NBA backbencher – at times entertaining, adorned by rainbows on their uniforms and headlined by colorful characters on the floor and bench. But never quite good enough to break through against the biggest stars and better teams to the east, west and south of them.
Before this season, there were only two teams founded before 1980 – the Nuggets and Clippers – that had never been to an NBA Finals. The Nuggets took their name off that list, then joined San Antonio as the second original ABA team to capture the NBA’s biggest prize. The other two ABAers, the Pacers and Nets, have been to the finals but lost.
It was the Joker’s blossoming into a do-everything force that made the Nuggets a team to watch. Not everybody did. A shift to winning couldn’t change Denver’s location on the map – in a weird time zone in flyover territory – and it didn’t shift everyone’s view of the Nuggets.
Even in Denver.
There’s little doubt that this has always been a Broncos-first sort of town. No single Denver victory will outshine the day in 1998 when John Elway broke through and that team’s owner, Pat Bowlen, held the Lombardi Trophy high and declared: “This one’s for John!”
But this one? It won't take a back seat to much. It’s for every Dan (Issel), David (Thompson), Doug (Moe) or Dikembe (Mutombo) who ever came up short or got passed over for a newer, shinier model with more glitter and more stars.
For the first time in 47 seasons, nobody in the NBA shines brighter than the Nuggets.
“You live vicariously through these guys,” said Denver great LaPhonso Ellis, as he pointed to the big scoreboard announcing the Nuggets as champions. “And to see that there, ‘2023 NBA Champions’ here in Denver, that's so cool, and I'm honored to be a part of it."
Manchester City: 2022-23 UEFA Champions League Winners
Match in brief: City claim European glory
City navigated an unbeaten path to the final, racking up a competition-best 31 goals in the process, so it was little surprise that they started on the front foot. Inter had let in only one goal in six knockout games, however, and for so long did an excellent job of marshalling their opponents' galaxy of attacking talent.
Erling Haaland – subsequently flagged offside – and Bernardo Silva did both go close in the opening stages, but it was not until the 27th minute that Kevin De Bruyne unpicked the Nerazzurri lock and Haaland got off a firm shot at goal; André Onana, as usual, was positioned well.
De Bruyne is so often City's creator-in-chief, but the man with 31 assists this season came off injured before half-time; Josep Guardiola's team would have to think again.
Their faith was tested once more before the hour, Manuel Akanji misjudging a Bernardo Silva pass to allow Lautaro Martínez to pounce. On this occasion, Ederson was alert enough to close down the angle.
Onana had no such luxury at the other end when a neat City move resulted in the ball dropping to Rodri just inside the penalty area; City's midfield pivot showed characteristic calm to side-foot into the corner. The treble was on.
Inter were far from deflated by going behind, though, and, just three minutes later, so nearly drew level, only for Federico Dimarco's looping header to strike the crossbar.
De Bruyne's replacement, Phil Foden, soon went close at the other end, but there was still time for one last nerve-jangler for Guardiola and his charges. Romelu Lukaku's close-ranger header somehow ricocheted off Ederson's knee and the engraver could finish adding City's name to the trophy for the first time.
PlayStation® Player of the Match: Rodri (Man City)
"Came up with the winning goal in a game with few chances and his involvement for City between the boxes was essential to having a balanced City side."
UEFA Technical Observer Panel
Matthew Howarth, Man City reporter
It was perhaps not the prettiest performance from Guardiola's star-studded ensemble, but this was never likely to be one-sided affair – Inter are far too good for that. The Serie A side were excellent in the first half but, when City were struggling to get into gear early in the second, they failed to take advantage. Rodri's goal cements his place in club history on the back of a tremendous personal campaign, while Guardiola becomes the first coach since Sir Alex Ferguson to lead an English club to the treble.
Vieri Capretta, Inter reporter
An almost perfect first half for the Nerazzurri – solid at the back and showing glimpses of what they could do going forward. In the second half Inter did what they had to do, kept the game under control, had two enormous chances, but ultimately came up short. Simone Inzaghi and his players shouldn't have regrets – with a bit of luck this could have gone their way.
Key stats
City are the 23rd different team – and the sixth from England – to win the European Cup.
Josep Guardiola is just the fourth coach to win the European Cup on three occasions.
City are only the tenth team in history to complete a treble of league, cup and European Cup.
Haaland finished as the competition's leading scorer with 12 goals.
City are the 15th European Cup winners to remain unbeaten throughout their campaign (W8 D5).
This was the fourth successive UEFA Champions League final to finish 1-0.
Fantasy star performers
To follow.
Line-ups
Man City: Ederson; Akanji, Rúben Dias, Aké; Stones (Walker 82), Rodri; Bernardo Silva, De Bruyne (Foden 36), Gündoğan, Grealish; Haaland
Inter: Onana; Darmian (D'Ambrosio 84), Acerbi, Bastoni (Gosens 76); Dumfries (Bellanova 76), Barella, Brozović, Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Mkhitaryan 84), Dimarco; Martínez, Džeko (Lukaku 57)
What's next?
The 2023/24 UEFA Champions League begins with the preliminary round semi-finals on 27 June; the draw takes place on Tuesday 13 June. Both City and Inter will enter next season's competition in the group stage, the draw for which takes place on Thursday 31 August.
West Ham United: 2022-23 UEFA Europa Conference League Winners
Pietro Terracciano saved from Michail Antonio in the opening minute, and West Ham took courage for a while, hurrying Fiorentina and preventing them from building from the back. Declan Rice fired just wide from the edge of the box, but the Viola pressed and passed more effectively as a stop-start first half went on.
Luka Jović had a shot blocked at source in the box, and got behind the Hammers' defence in the final seconds before the break. The No7 reacted sharply after Christian Kouamé's header looped back to him off the post, but the effort was ruled offside.
The second half sparked into life after West Ham were awarded a penalty, Cristiano Biraghi handling a long throw into the Fiorentina box. Said Benrahma struck it sweetly into the top corner, sending Terracciano the wrong way.
Their lead lasted just five minutes, though, Giacomo Bonaventura controlling Nicolás González's knock-down and then beating Areola with a low angled shot. It might have got even better for Fiorentina three minutes later, Rolando Mandragora flashing a powerful shot just wide from the edge of the box.
However, the momentum drained away, and extra time looked to be looming when Areola saved Sofyan Amrabat's hopeful effort from distance. There was a final cruel twist for the Viola, though, Jarrod Bowen chasing Lucas Paquetá's smart ball through the Fiorentina defence before angling the ball past Terracciano.
Laufenn Player of the Match: Jarrod Bowen (West Ham)
"Even when they were not on top, he was the outlet for West Ham's counterattacks and then scored the goal to win the match."
UEFA Technical Observer Panel
Paolo Menicucci, Fiorentina reporter
Football can be cruel. Fiorentina dominated possession for the whole game and were the more dangerous side with the ball and created more chances to score but a sudden counterattack is all it takes to destroy a dream. Fiorentina have reached two finals this season and lost both of them, but Vincenzo Italiano and his players should be proud of the way they have played, even though they failed to win any trophies.
Lynsey Hooper, West Ham reporter
The Hammers only held on to their initial lead for a matter of minutes. Despite a rocket of a penalty from Benrahma, the momentum shifted when Fiorentina equalised. The match was anyone's at 1-1, but Bowen was quickest to a through-ball and kept his composure to beat the goalkeeper in the final minute of normal time. The image of David Moyes running down the touchline will live long in the memory, as will this European title victory.
Jarrod Bowen, West Ham forward, speaking to BT Sport: "I dreamed of scoring but to score the winner in the last minute, I thought I was going to cry. I'm just happy, I can't put it into words. We haven't had the best season, myself included. I'm over the moon. You make that run ten times and you might get it once. I had a lot of time but I was confident and when I saw it going in, I didn't know what to do. This was the biggest game of my career."
Declan Rice, West Ham captain: "When Jarrod ran through on goal I said to myself: 'This is your time'. And then you see the ball hit the back of the net. I'm still in shock now. Honestly, it's incredible."
David Moyes, West Ham manager, speaking to BT Sport: "This year we've gone unbeaten in Europe, which is incredible. Being in the Europa League next season will be a thrill again. The moments when you win in the last minute of the game and get to celebrate with your family don't happen often. It can go against you but tonight is a brilliant feeling. This competition has been great for us; the players have been remarkable."
Vincenzo Italiano, Fiorentina coach: "We lost two finals when we played really well and it's a shame. Tonight, I honestly didn't imagine it could finish like this. We played well, had chances, equalised straight away after a penalty that could have killed us. We responded, we had a great chance through Mandragora. Then a ball came down the middle, we did not make the right movement in defence and it was all over. The lads were destroyed."
Cristiano Biraghi, Fiorentina captain: "It's so awful to lose like this. We are dead inside, above all because we are the players on the pitch but we were playing for a city, for the fans, the people who came to us after the Coppa Italia final [a 2-1 defeat against Inter] to tell us how much Fiorentina mean to them. The biggest regret is not taking anything home for them."
Joe Cole, BT Sport
"We've seen all the outpouring of emotion: I've never seen so many grown men cry. It's incredible. It's one of the most iconic scenes in this club's history."
Key stats
West Ham have won their first major continental trophy since the 1964/65 European Cup Winners’ Cup.
The Hammers made it through the whole campaign unbeaten; their final record W14 D1.
David Moyes is the first Scottish coach to win a UEFA competition since Sir Alex Ferguson claimed his second Champions League title with Man United in 2008.
Fiorentina finished as the top scorers in this season's Europa Conference League with 37 goals; West Ham were second on that list with 29.
Fiorentina's Arthur Cabral was the joint-top scorer in the Europa Conference League this season on seven goals; Kouamé and Biraghi provided the most assists with five each.
Line-ups
Fiorentina: Terracciano; Dodô, Milenković, Ranieri (Igor 84), Biraghi; Amrabat, Mandragora (Barák 90+3); González, Bonaventura, Kouamé (Saponara 61); Jović (Cabral 46)
West Ham: Areola; Coufal, Zouma (Kehrer 61), Aguerd, Emerson; Souček, Rice, Paquetá; Bowen, Antonio (Ogbonna 90+4), Benrahma (Fornals 76)
© 1998-2023 UEFA. All rights reserved. Last updated: Wednesday, June 7, 2023
Honkai Star Rail: Star Rail Misadventures, Day 3.
#Honkai #HSR #HonkaiStarRail #StarRail #SilverWolf
FC Barcelona: 2022-23 UEFA Women's Champions League Winners
Barcelona have won the UEFA Women's Champions League for the second time in three years after a thrilling comeback from two down to beat Wolfsburg 3-2 in Eindhoven.
Ewa Pajor and Alex Popp had put Wolfsburg seemingly in control at half-time. But, within five minutes of the restart, Patri Guijarro scored twice to level the scores, and former Wolfsburg player Fridolina Rolfö later sealed only the second comeback from two goals down to win a final of this competition.
A fast start had proved the key in the previous four finals – three of those involving Barcelona – and the Blaugrana poured forward immediately, piling on the pressure. After just three minutes, however, they were behind, as Ewa Pajor dispossessed Lucy Bronze, cut inside and fired in from outside the box for her competition-leading ninth goal of the season, and a strike similar to Amandine Henry's opener for Lyon against Barcelona a year ago.
Barcelona responded confidently, Irene Paredes getting in a great position from a corner but heading wide of the far post. Aitana Bonmatí then had a shot blocked in the box, and Barcelona kept building in their trademark way, only to encounter tenacious pressing from the likes of Alex Popp – nominally Wolfsburg's centre-forward – Lena Oberdorf and Jill Roord.
In the 37th minute, Popp buried her record-equalling fourth goal in a final. Pajor was the provider this time, receiving the ball from Felicitas Rauch and sending in a perfect cross for her captain, playing in her seventh decider overall, to nod in. Barcelona needed a response and Bronze, a three-time winner with Lyon, nearly provided one just before half-time, forcing her way through and slipping the ball to Salma Paralluelo, who was denied at close range by Merle Frohms.
The first-half stats had Barcelona 16-3 up on attempts and they quickly added to their tally after the interval, Mariona Caldentey shooting straight at Frohms. And the next attempt was a goal, Bonmatí's trickery freeing Caroline Graham Hansen for a clever cutback which set up Patri Guijarro to halve the deficit.
Two minutes later it was 2-2, and Guijarro again the scorer, heading in after another superb piece of skill and perfect lobbed cross from Bonmatí. Barcelona were now pouring forward, stretching Wolfsburg on both flanks and bombarding the penalty area.
Wolfsburg were not giving up, though, and Dutch duo Lynn Wilms and Roord combined to feed Pajor, whose angled shot did not beat Sandra Paños. Pajor again had the ball in a similar position on the left a couple of minutes later – with the same result.
Instead, it was Barcelona who found the net once more. Soon after coming on, Geyse sent in a cross and an attempted Wilms clearance hit Kathrin Hendrich in the Wolfsburg box. Caldentey was there to pounce and somehow wriggled free of the defensive pair to feed former Wolfsburg player Fridolina Rolfö, who made no mistake with the goal gaping.
There was no way back for Wolfsburg, despite a last-gasp effort from their semi-final hero Pauline Bremer, and even before the final whistle there was an extra treat for the large Barcelona contingent in the Dutch women's record 33,147 crowd as Alexia Putellas came off the bench for her first appearance in the Women's Champions League this season after serious injury.
Visa Player of the Match: Patri Guijarro (Barcelona)
"She changed the game by scoring two goals in quick succession. The catalyst for the Barcelona comeback. Her attacking attitude in the second half got her into the box to capitalise on crossing opportunities that Barcelona couldn't capitalise on in the first half."
UEFA Technical Observer panel
Graham Hunter, Barcelona reporter
Barcelona won a final which they'd looked like losing thanks to one of their oldest tricks: dropping an extra player into midfield to create 'superiority' of numbers, Caldentey in this instance.
Wolfsburg's tactics and execution had been so clever. But Spain's champions took trailing 2-0 as a personal insult. The turbochargers went on and the reset strategy worked a treat. Rolfö was also key, playing as a left-winger not a full-back. 'She who dares wins' was the motto.
Judith Tuffentsammer, Wolfsburg reporter
In the end, it was rare blips in defensive coverage that cost Wolfsburg their hard-earned lead – and the game. Up 2-0 thanks to impressive ruthlessness in the first half, the Wölfinnen surprised everyone and looked like the formidable opponents they'd set out to be.
After Barcelona had endured their fair share of bad luck in the first half, they came out of the dressing room blazing. The Spanish side proved the more dominant and clinical team throughout the second period, with Wolfsburg unable to recreate their attacking output of the first 45 minutes.
Paul Saffer, match reporter
After four straight finals in which a fast start to the game had been the key, this time it was what came immediately after the interval that proved decisive. Barcelona have shown their ability to dictate and dominate in recent years; what they unveiled tonight was a grit and tactical flexibility to go with the incredible individual talents they boast.
Reaction
Jonatan Giráldez, Barcelona coach: "Maybe the half-time score was unfair because of how many chances we'd created and the pattern of play. We made a mistake at the start and we conceded. It's not about what happens but how you react, and we did that well but then conceded again. At half-time, we wanted to improve ball reception. We had to wake up, be optimistic, realise there were 45 minutes left and it wasn't impossible."
Patri Guijarro, Player of the Match: "It complicates matters when you concede two goals. We created chances but didn't take them. We talked at half-time about those small details, the self-belief that we've matured since last year and that we didn't break down after going behind. It was everyone’s hunger and belief [that led to victory]. I'm really happy about helping my team win this piece of silverware."
Lucy Bronze, Barcelona defender: "We made it hard for ourselves in the first half, even though we created so many chances. We could have scored many goals in that first half. I think we knew we had enough quality to come back into any game. I don't think we were ever worried about scoring three goals, which is a crazy feat to do, but that's the talent within this team."
Caroline Graham Hansen, Barcelona forward: "This game had every emotion it could have. I'm just so happy. Two-nil down at half-time, I had a big flashback to the last final [losing to Lyon in 2022] and thought, 'It's not going to happen again.'"
Tommy Stroot, Wolfsburg coach: "Congratulations to Barcelona. We saw a great game here in Eindhoven. It was an advertisement for women's football. Everyone in the stadium and watching on TV saw a game of a great standard with high individual quality – from Barcelona, but also the way we played."
Alex Popp, Wolfsburg forward: "Firstly, it's an incredible disappointment. For one, there's a big feeling of emptiness, because we had a 2-0 lead. But I believe we played a very good season – in the Champions League, winning the German Cup and doing well in the league. That's extremely difficult to understand now because the pain and disappointment are so big. But give the players a few days and then, hopefully, the world will look a bit different."
Key stats
Contesting their fourth final in five years, Barcelona won a second title to go with their 2020/21 triumph.
Barcelona are only the second team to come back from two goals down to win a final of this competition, Wolfsburg having done likewise against Tyresö in 2014.
Popp equalled Ada Hegerberg's record of scoring in the final in four separate seasons.
Wolfsburg suffered their fourth straight final defeat after losing to Lyon in 2016, 2018 and 2020. They won the final in their first two European campaigns in 2012/13 and 2013/14.
Line-ups
Barcelona: Paños; Bronze, Paredes, León, Rolfö; Bonmatí (Putellas 90), Walsh (Syrstad Engen 89), Guijarro; Graham Hansen (Crnogorčević 79), Caldentey (Pina 79), Paralluelo (Geyse 70)
Wolfsburg: Frohms; Wilms (Hegering 84), Hendrich, Janssen, Rauch; Oberdorf, Roord (Lattwein 71); Huth; Jónsdóttir, Popp, Pajor (Bremer 84)
Roll of honour: Finals
UEFA Women's Champions League:
2023 (Eindhoven): Barcelona 3-2 Wolfsburg
2022 (Turin): Lyon 3-1 Barcelona
2021 (Gothenburg): Barcelona 4-0 Chelsea
2020 (San Sebastián): Lyon 3-1 Wolfsburg
2019 (Budapest): Lyon 4-1 Barcelona
2018 (Kyiv): Lyon 4-1aet Wolfsburg
2017 (Cardiff): Lyon 0-0aet, 7-6pens Paris Saint-Germain
2016 (Reggio Emilia): Lyon 1-1aet, 4-3pens Wolfsburg
2015 (Berlin): Frankfurt 2-1 Paris Saint-Germain
2014 (Lisbon): Wolfsburg 4-3 Tyresö
2013 (London): Wolfsburg 1-0 Lyon
2012 (Munich): Lyon 2-0 FFC Frankfurt
2011 (London): Lyon 2-0 Turbine Potsdam
2010 (Madrid): Turbine Potsdam 0-0aet, 7-6pens Lyon
UEFA Women's Cup:
Two-legged finals
2009: Duisburg 6-0/1-1: agg 7-1 Zvezda-2005
2008: Frankfurt 1-1/3-2: agg 4-3 Umeå
2007: Arsenal 1-0/0-0: agg 1-0 Umeå
2006: Frankfurt 4-0/3-2: agg 7-2 Turbine Potsdam
2005: Turbine Potsdam 2-0/3-1: agg 5-1 Djurgården
2004: Umeå 3-0/5-0: agg 8-0 Frankfurt
2003: Umeå 4-1/3-0: agg 7-1 Fortuna Hjørring
One-off final
2002 (Frankfurt): Frankfurt 2-0 Umeå
Lens, the brilliant and ‘normal’ team who pushed Messi and PSG all the way: Special report
The full-time whistle blows… but nobody is going anywhere. This party started early, and will not finish before the day is out.
Yellow and red shirts have been filtering into the small city of Lens, in that far northern corner of France between Paris and the sea, throughout the day and at 5pm, the town square is packed with supporters as they prepare to make their way to Stade Bollaert-Delelis, an old-school, British-style stadium with four terraces and a 38,000 capacity greater than the population of Lens itself.
Inside, the crowd are buoyant, ready to serenade their players and later, belt out the chants of “On les a chicote” (We have rattled them) and Pierre Bachelet’s Les Corons, a hymn for the coal miners of northern France that is now the club’s anthem. Football dominates in these parts and is now entwined with the city’s identity; the stadium holds the same presence in the skyline as the slag-heaps of mining waste that tower overhead, looming pyramids that are echoes of an industrial past.
Saturday’s 3-0 home win over already-relegated Ajaccio leads to fireworks and Champagne. After soaking the waiting media in the mixed zone after the game, defender Jonathan Gradit calls the night a high point of his career.
“It (the Champions League) is Real, it’s Bayern, it’s a monumental party and once again it’s a reward for everything we’ve been able to do,” Gradit says. “This is our own reward. There were emotional tears because we’ve been together for more or less three years and frankly what we’re going through is great.”
There is joy at Racing Club de Lens, to use their full name, and it has been a long time coming.
After a wait of 20 years, they have qualified for the Champions League again. By finishing second in Ligue 1, they will go straight into the group stage with title winners Paris Saint-Germain.
It resonates.
As recently as September 2017, Lens were bottom of Ligue 2, the French second tier. They had recently avoided bankruptcy for the second time in a decade and some fans got inside their training complex, La Gaillette, to voice their dissent.
Three years later, they were promoted. Three years on from that, they are dusting off their passports.
“From the first year back into Ligue 1, there was something about this team, there was something about this coach,” the club’s owner, and president, Joseph Oughourlian, tells The Athletic. “The atmosphere at the Stade Bollaert was unbelievable. It’s not just the town, it’s the region’s club.
“There has been this wait for the club to do better. Returning to Ligue 1 was a big step. But this year, the team has really surpassed any expectations, any fan expectations, any rational person’s expectations. It’s all come together.
“It has been great, and a lot of fun.”
Four hours before kick-off on Saturday, Oughourlian is sitting in the calm setting of the Louvre hotel. The team are here too, sitting near the foyer and going through final pre-match routines.
Oughourlian, who first became a shareholder at Lens in 2016 and took full control five years ago, suits this environment. It’s quieter, more sedate, for an owner who says he prefers to stay out of the limelight.
He is from a different world compared to the city of Lens and the terraces of the Stade Bollaert. Born in Paris, 110 miles (179km) to the south, he became a financier and founded the hedge fund Amber Capital in 2005. The firm operated from New York before relocating in 2012 to London (less than 150 miles away as the crow flies), where he too is now based.
The link to Lens? “There was no connection,” Oughourlian says. “It was a pure fluke.”
Chance perhaps but for Lens, it may be considered fortunate.
Twice in the past decade, as mentioned above, they have essentially gone bust, most recently in 2016 after two years where Azerbaijani businessman Hafiz Mammadov, who took full control three years earlier, stopped investing in the club. Oughourlian was initially brought in as an investor alongside La Liga heavyweights Atletico Madrid, who in turn wanted to buy into the club to help Mammadov.
“I said, ‘As long as you manage it, because I can’t manage a football club, I’d say yes’,” Oughourlian says. Ultimately, he became the majority shareholder.
“(Mammadov) did not show up,” Oughourlian says. “So I did all the financial engineering around buying the club and then found myself owning a majority and then essentially naming the management. They (Atletico) lost interest. Eventually, I became chairman (in 2018). I wasn’t expecting to buy the club and take control and become chairman.”
It was a difficult time to take over.
Lens had won Ligue 1 for the only time in their history in 1998 and qualified for the Champions League again four years later. But since then, European tours became infrequent. They were relegated in 2008 and though they bounced back to the top flight immediately, by then the rot had set in. Between 2011-12 and 2020-21 they spent just one season in Ligue 1, finishing bottom in 2015.
“It was a club that was still living in its past,” Oughourlian says. “A great club that had fallen behind — a Sunderland, where there’s still a lot of popular affection, a brand name, titles, stories. It’s a bit of a lethal combination, to be honest. They still thought of themselves as a big, amazing club. But they were in Ligue 2.
“From that perspective, I was quite lucky to have arrived after a very very long period (of difficulty). They were ready to make sacrifices and that’s what we asked of them.”
Oughourlian made cuts, pointing to the club employing “more than 80 people” despite being in the second tier. He appointed people with the know-how he did not possess, such as Arnaud Pouille, who was general manager and is now chief executive. “You have to surround yourself with people that have that experience,” Oughourlian says. “It’s not something you can improvise, or learn from doing.”
Then, in 2017, with the club struggling on the field, Oughourlian organised a seminar with key stakeholders, including fans, staff and the players.
“I asked, ‘What do you think our core values are? What do we stand for? Who are we?’. I listened. I’m not from the region. I wasn’t a fan of Lens. I didn’t follow the club. When you live in London, you’re a financier, you’ve come from New York, you’re not going to arrive at Lens and say, ‘These are your values’. What do I know?!
“We defined our values, what we stood for. We put them on our walls, and told them to the first team and across the club, from the youngest players to the staff. It was nothing shocking — passion, being respectful. It was important to have gone through that stage. You set the foundations for the club to succeed… hopefully.”
There was a resetting of club culture. Club jackets were introduced into the boardroom. On Saturday night, the players were all awarded miners’ lamps as an end-of-season memento.
“You can still have a strong local culture, as part of a particular region, and still it resonates with the rest of the country and it resonates with people outside of the country,” Oughourlian says. “Because it’s all about our values. They are mining values, but they fit well with sports. It’s community. Teamwork.”
Constant improvement followed on the field.
After the nadir of 2017-18, where they finished 14th in the 20-team second tier, losing over half their 38 games, Lens improved to reach the promotion play-offs the following season, where they were defeated by top-flight Dijon in the final. They went up automatically in pandemic-curtailed 2019-20 (Lens were second when the season was halted with 10 matches to play and later abandoned), and once in Ligue 1 again continued to thrive.
In their first season up, Lens finished an impressive seventh with 57 points (Rennes qualified for Europe with 58). They improved in 2021-22 with 62 points as they came seventh again. And now they already have 81 with one game still to play.
That they have pushed serial champions PSG all the way, even though the Parisians’ annual budget is said to be 10 times greater than theirs, is astonishing.
“We’re very ambitious, but at the same time, we’re very normal people,” Oughourlian says. “In some ways, we’re not like PSG. We’re not an all-star team. It’s a team effort.
“That’s not criticising PSG. I think they’ve been incredibly successful — contrary to what people may think because they’ve had a difficult season in the Champions League. But aside from that, we’re just the opposite. They are a global brand. We’re a local brand. They appeal to stars. Our values are collective, teamwork, there’s no one big star in our team.
“It (PSG) is the club of a rich and wealthy area. I’m not saying they do not have humble fans, they have so many different fans. But they are in the capital, and we’re the poorest region in France.”
Success has continued despite considerable challenges.
Key players have been poached. Last summer, Lens lost their top 2021-22 goalscorer Arnaud Kalimuendo, who had been on loan from PSG and was then sold to Rennes for €20million (£17.3m; $21.4m at current exchange rates). Full-back Jonathan Clauss, a beloved figure, went to Marseille for a reported €9m while midfielder Cheick Doucoure went to Crystal Palace of the Premier League in a deal worth up to €26m.
Clauss left Lens for Marseille last summer (Photo: Catherine Steenkeste/Getty Images)
“If one of the big clubs in France or from the Premier League wants someone, they will get them,” admits Oughourlian. “Clauss went to Marseille. We thought of him as one of our key players. We discovered him in the second division in Germany. Marseille wanted him and could triple or quadruple his salary. There’s nothing we could do at that point.
“As much as we like the player and the player likes us, you have to be reasonable. You have to understand who you are and where you are.”
That impacts staff, too. Florent Ghisolfi, the club’s former sporting director, was seen as an integral part of their impressive recruitment programme. He was poached by fellow Ligue 1 side Nice last October.
“You have to make sure that there’s always a Plan B,” Oughourlian says. “That you react very quickly. One of our key assets is a very lean chain of command. It’s my CEO (Pouille), his sports director (Gregory Thil), the manager (Franck Haise), and myself. It’s two phone calls away from: ‘Yes, no, what do we do, who do we hire?’ I’m an hour and a half away in London. I can be here very, very quickly. We can react very quickly, which is what we’ve done so far.”
Those players who left last summer have not been missed.
Kalimuendo was replaced by Lois Openda, signed from Belgium’s Club Bruges for about half the fee Rennes paid PSG for his predecessor. The 23-year-old Belgian international has 20 league goals so far and, against Ajaccio, equalled Roger Boli’s club scoring record for a single Ligue 1 season.
Clauss, a right wing-back, was replaced first by Jimmy Cabot, signed from Ligue 1’s Angers, but after the newcomer suffered a season-ending knee injury in October the club adapted by re-positioning Przemyslaw Frankowski, who has played on the left for them and for Poland, with Deiver Machado stepping in on that flank. Machado has had a difficult first season as a regular starter, but was on the scoresheet in Saturday’s vital win.
In central midfield, Salis Abdul Samed arrived from Clermont to replace Doucoure and his presence has ensured Seko Fofana has continued to thrive.
On the staffing front, Ghisolfi was replaced by Thil, who had been his deputy. And promoting internally has brought rewards.
“It’s something I have done in business,” Oughourlian says. “I like to promote people. In business in general, people like to think the grass is greener somewhere. But you always have talent at home if you look around and if you’re a bit patient. Let them thrive, give them the means to thrive. That’s very important.”
The best promotion the club have made, without doubt, was Haise from B-team manager to the first-team job. His appointment, replacing Philippe Montanier in February 2020, was his first senior role in management. As a player, his career was mainly confined to France’s lower divisions, before moving through various coaching posts and eventually joining Lens in the summer of 2017, having been an assistant and (briefly the previous season) caretaker manager at Lorient.
“Franck embodies the values of our club,” says Oughourlian. “We wanted to promote him because he had done a very good job with our B team. It was important to create a bridge between the local talent and the first team. That’s still part of our ambition, to promote youth.”
Haise was this week named Ligue 1 coach of the year (Photo: Bertrand Guay/AFP via Getty Images)
Haise has been the driving force behind the team. They have channelled the energy cultivated at the Bollaert into their style of play, a variation of a 3-4-3. But it is getting the most out of the available talent that makes the 52-year-old stand out.
There are jewels in the team; Fofana is the engine of their success, a complete midfielder who can dominate in both boxes, while Openda has shown an impressive eye for goal. Kevin Danso, a central defender who spent the 2019-20 season with Southampton, has finally found his footing under Haise while Brice Samba, who was key to Nottingham Forest winning Premier League promotion last May, was named Ligue 1 goalkeeper of the year this weekend.
But this is a team built on a collective spirit and that is typified by those who have progressed with the club.
Gradit, a smart central defender, was a part of the 2019-20 promotion-winning side and is now holding his own in the top flight at age 30. A decade ago, he was playing amateur football after a blood infection left him in intensive care, which took a year out of his career and scuppered his hopes of breaking through at Bordeaux. After five years with Ligue 2 side Tours, he got released, had a season with top-flight Caen, then moved to Lens in the summer of 2019.
Florian Sotoca has a similar story. The versatile 32-year-old has mainly featured in an attacking role playing behind the striker, and has scored seven goals and provided nine assists in Ligue 1 this year. He was also playing amateur football as recently as 2013, while working with his uncle, a wholesaler who resold shoes, to pay the bills.
“There are a group of players who experienced Ligue 2, that COVID-19 season, but today what we are experiencing is quite extraordinary,” Sotoca told the media after the Ajaccio game, standing alongside Gradit and soaked in Champagne. “We work a lot, we have benchmarks, we have never given up, even those who have not played a lot, they have always been there. ”
All of this has been achieved in union with the fans.
The ultras at the Bollaert are situated in the Marek-Xerxes Stand, which is not behind the goal as in so many cases, such as Anfield’s Kop, but runs alongside the pitch. The atmosphere is electric and unique. Last August, after a summer of speculation, Fofana signed a new contract there in front of 37,161 people after a 5-2 win over Lorient.
Following matches, the players have gone over to the Marek to share the victory with their supporters and sing On Les A Chicote, with a player leading the chant. Haise himself was the frontman after they beat PSG 3-1 on New Year’s Day, ending the Parisians’ 23-match unbeaten run in all competitions to start this season.
Lens have an exceptional home record this season of 17 wins, one draw and one defeat. It’s the best in Ligue 1. Those results speak for themselves.
French clubs that poke the PSG bear often find that their star talents are whisked away in the season that follows. It was the fate that met Monaco after their title triumph in 2016-17, and also Lens’ neighbours Lille after they were champions two years ago.
The vultures are circling again.
Haise has been linked with a Premier League move and with Marseille. Openda has caught the eye of AC Milan. Danso and Fofana, who have made the Ligue 1 team of the season with colleagues Openda and Samba, are expected to have suitors, too.
For Oughourlian, it is inevitable.
“You try and anticipate it as much as you can,” he says. “First, no one is irreplaceable — especially at Lens, as it’s a team effort. That’s part of business, of sport. You’re going to lose key players. Key staff. We might lose some key players (this summer), and that’s fine. The chance is lower (now they are) in the Champions League, players may hesitate before leaving. The Premier League could approach any player and may have a shot.
“But there is a good counterexample to that — Brice Samba, our goalkeeper who was with Nottingham Forest. They were promoted last season into the Premier League and we convinced him to come play for us. The reason is very simple. It’s the Spanish saying: ‘Would you rather be the head of the mouse or would you rather be the tail of the lion?’ What’s more interesting for you? To be avoiding relegation in the EPL or to be playing for Europe?’
“But if a bigger club came for our players, a top-10 Premier League club, it would be hard to resist. Financially, we couldn’t.”
Competing with the biggest teams consistently will be a challenge. But Oughourlian looks at examples around Europe of teams with smaller budgets who have found a way to thrive, such as Brighton, Brentford, Villarreal and Atalanta.
He speaks positively about Lens’ youth set-up too. The training ground, La Gaillette, which was opened in 2002, has nurtured talents including Raphael Varane, Serge Aurier, Thorgan Hazard and Geoffrey Kondogbia.
Varane (right), now at Manchester United, came through at Lens (Photo: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images)
“You just have to be smarter,” Oughourlian says. “Lean and mean. Which is the same in any business. There’s always an 800-pound gorilla, but the smaller guys still exist too. There are 17 other teams PSG will need to play against.
“The difficulty is always the same (for clubs such as Brighton and Villarreal) — to maintain your position and not go up the stairs to fall down the elevator shaft. The key for us is to remain agile, disciplined and careful, because, for us, a mistake can be lethal. Whereas a PSG can make more mistakes and weather them.”
Budget-wise, returning to the Champions League will be transformative.
Oughourlian started at Lens with a €17million budget in Ligue 2. Next season, that will rise to €120million. He is conscious of not raising expectations too high. “We’re the underdogs; yes, in the Champions League but even in the French league, trying to make the top six,” he says. “Our budget this year was around 12th, or around one off that. That we finished second is surprising, and remarkable.
“We also have a commitment to the local people that the price of tickets will remain affordable. We have to be very careful to control prices.”
He is open to outside investment and says he has been talking to possible new partners and has been approached. But he is cautious.
“It’s a special place, Lens,” he says. “PSG is the company of the world. It’s owned by Qatar, it’s Paris. It’s international. It’s a natural thing for them for an American or Middle Eastern investor to come in. Here, you have to be careful about who you bring in. That it’s not just a question of money. It’s also a question of finding the right partner.”
Oughourlian is also the majority owner of Padova, in Italy’s third division, while he has invested in Millonarios of Bogota in Colombia’s top division, and Real Zaragoza, in Spain’s second tier, where he is a minority shareholder. Those stakes are not seen as being parts of a multi-club-model framework, which is not on the cards for Lens.
“If I sold Lens to Arsenal or Chelsea, that would make sense for them,” he says. “They could centralise French talent, train them. But Lens would be a feeder club. No interest to play in Europe. That would be damaging for our fans.”
While challenges again await off the field, the Champions League will return to the Bollaert this September. Its iconic anthem boomed around the ground on Saturday night to a rapturous ovation, the excitement palpable not only on the terraces but out on the pitch too.
“(The Champions League) is the result of all the work, of all the sacrifices,” said Samba after the game. “Everyone is rewarded, individuals also stand out, and everyone has put their stone in the building (the team has built). We can only be proud. For me, it is pride. When I arrived here, it was to put Lens back as high as possible.”
And for the club president who has helped to make it all happen, have this northern club got under his skin?
“Definitely,” Oughourlian says. “Especially after six years where it’s not all been easy. In football, there’s always an element of hazard, so when the going gets good, you better make the most of it. Enjoy the moment.”
On Saturday’s evidence, that seems to be the case in Lens.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)