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.
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