RC LENS

'Racing Club de Lens' is a French football club which plays in the northern city of Lens, in the Pas-de-Calais département. Its nickname, ''sang et or'' (literally, 'blood and gold'), comes from its traditional colours of red and gold.

Contents

History

Stadium

Honours

Current squad

Players out on loan

Squad change during 07/08 season

Former great players

Managers

See also

External links

History

It was founded in 1905 as Racing Club Lensois, but was not officially registered until 1906 as Racing Club de Lens. Lens originally played in green (as the club's seat was located "Place Verte", literally Green Square) and black (for the coal dug in the area) stripes. Between 1908 and 1910, they used black and red quartered shirts, then an all black shirt bearing the three white letters R.C.L., a cheaper kit for a poor club. The club's activities were silenced by World War I. In 1919, it restarted as Union Sportive du Foyer Franco-Américain and played in sky blue. Finally, late in 1923 chairman Pierre Moglia was inspired to choose the colours of the Spanish flag after someone from the club remarked that the ruins of the Saint-Léger church they happened to be walking by that night were the last remains of the Spanish occupation in the seventeenth century. Lens played their first match with their new colours when the Stade Municipal was inaugurated in 1924. For a long time, the huge influx of Polish miners between the two world wars provided Lens with a great pool of talent, reflected in the names of many players. More recently, they have turned to Africa for their recruitment.
In recent years, Lens have been competitive in the top level of French football, winning the league in the 1997-98 season, finishing second in 2001-02 and winning the Coupe de la Ligue in 1999. In 2005 Lens succeeded in winning the Intertoto Cup to qualify into the UEFA Cup. After an average 2004/05 Ligue 1 campaign, in which local rivals Lille OSC finished a surprising second and outperfomed them for once, Lens expect a finish in the top six for the 2005/06 campaign but still probably second best to Lille. Unfortunately, they failed to get a place in the last 16 of the UEFA Cup going down to Italy's Udinese (0-3, 1-0).

Stadium

The club has long marketed itself as a regional club rather than a town-based outfit, and has become noted for its strong support across its region, despite the fact that a second top-level team, Lille OSC, is located in nearby Lille. The club's ground, Stade Félix Bollaert, which hosted six games in the 1998 World Cup, seats 41,233 — more than the population of the city (about 36,200 inhabitants), although Lens is at the center of a considerably more populous area. With around 35,000 supporters turning out for each home game in 2004-05, RC Lens's average attendance was only fourth to the clubs from France's three biggest cities, Olympique de Marseille, Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Lyonnais. The club also has a reputation for having the country's best supporters.

Honours

★ 'Ligue 1'

★
★ 'Winners (1):' 43, 44, 45, 46, 98

★
★ 'Runners-up (4):' 1955-56, 1956-57, 1976-77, 2001-02

★ 'Ligue 2'

★
★ 'Winners (3):' 1937, 1949, 1973

★ 'French Cup'

★
★ 'Runners-up (3):' 1948, 1975, 1998

★ 'French League Cup'

★
★ 'Winners (1):' 1999

★ 'Coupe Drago'

★
★ 'Winners (4):' 1959, 1960, 1965, 1966

★ 'UEFA Cup'

★
★ 'Semi-finalists (1):' 2000

★ 'UEFA Intertoto Cup'

★
★ 'Winners (1):' 2005, 2007

Current squad

''As of August 25, 2007. Players in 'bold' have international caps.

Players out on loan

Squad change during 07/08 season

'In:'

★ Kanga Akalé - Signed 'From' ''AJ Auxerre''

★ Lucien Aubey - Signed 'From' ''Toulouse F.C.''

★ Bonaventure Kalou - Signed 'From' ''Paris SG''

★ Fabien Laurenti - Signed 'From' ''AC Ajaccio''

★ Ronan Le Crom - Signed 'From' ''Troyes AC''

★ Vedran Runje - Signed 'From' ''Beşiktaş J.K.''

★ Julien Sablé - Signed 'From' ''A.S. Saint Etienne''

★ Madimoussa Traoré - Signed 'From' ''Girondins de Bordeaux''

★ Abdou Kader Mangane - Signed 'From' ''BSC Young Boys''
'Out:'

★ Issam Jemâa On loan 'To' ''SM Caen''

★ Sébastien Chabbert Sold 'To' ''Amiens SC''

★ Nicolas Gillet Sold 'To' ''Le Havre AC''

★ Jussiê Sold 'To' ''Girondins de Bordeaux''

★ Jimmy Kébé Sold 'To' ''US Boulogne''

★ Seydou Keita Sold 'To' ''Seville FC''

★ Damien Tixier Sold 'To' ''Le Havre AC''

★ Daniel Cousin Sold 'To' ''Rangers''

★ Charles Itandje Sold 'To' ''Liverpool''

Former great players

Three Lens players won the gold medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games: defender Didier Sénac, as well as strikers François Brisson and Daniel Xuereb who scored a goal apiece in France's triumph over Brazil 2-0 in the final at the Pasadena Rose Bowl in front of a 103,000 crowd.
For a complete list of RC Lens players, see

★ 'France'

★ Roger Boli

★ Farès Bousdira (1 cap for France as Lens player)

★ François Brisson (2)

★ Robert Budzynski

★ Olivier Dacourt

★ Frédéric Déhu (5)

★ Alou Diarra (11)

★ Francis Gillot

★ Valérien Ismaël

★ Pierre Laigle (8, 1)

★ Bernard Lama

★ Georges Lech (16, 4)

★ Daniel Leclercq

★ Xercès Louis (12)

★ Pascal Nouma

★ Bernard Placzek

★ Didier Sénac (2)

★ Antoine Sibierski

★ Eric Sikora

★ Didier Six (11, 2)

★ Tony Vairelles (8, 1)

★ Jean-Guy Wallemme

★ Guillaume Warmuz

★ Maryan Wisniewski (33, 12 goals)

★ Daniel Xuereb (3)
'Algeria'

★ Ahmed Oudjani

★ Chérif Oudjani
'Australia'

★ Robbie Slater
'Austria'

★ Tony Marek
'Benin'

★ Jimmy Adjovi-Boco
'Cameroon'

★ Benoît Assou-Ekotto

★ Marc-Vivien Foé

★ François Omam-Biyik

★ Rigobert Song
'Czech Republic'

★ Vladimír Šmicer
'Guinea'

★ Titi Camara
'Iceland'

★ Teitur Þórðarson
'Montenegro'

★ Anto Drobnjak
'Nigeria'

★ Wilson Oruma

★ John Utaka
'Poland'

★ Jacek Bąk
'Senegal'

★ Jules Bocandé

★ Papa Bouba Diop

★ Ferdinand Coly

★ El-Hadji Diouf
'Uruguay'

★ Venancio Ramos

Managers

Former coaches include two ex France coaches: Gérard Houllier (1982-85) managed France between July 1992 and November 1993, and Roger Lemerre (second half of the 1996-97 season, then as assistant coach 1997-98), who managed France between July 1998 and July 2002.

★ Jack Harris (1934) ★ Robert De Veen (1934-1936) ★ John Galbraith (1936-1938) ★ Raymond François (1938) ★ József Eisenhoffer (1938-1939) ★ John Galbraith (1939) ★ Richard Buisson (1939-1941) ★ Georges Beaucourt (1941-1942) ★ Anton Marek (1942-1947) ★ Nicolas Hisbst (1948-1950) ★ Ludvic Dupal (1950-1953) ★ Anton Marek (1953-1956) ★ Felix Witowski (1956-1958)

★ Karel Michlowski (1956-1958) ★ Jules Bigot (1958-1962) ★ Élie Fruchart (1962-1969) ★ Arnold Sowinski (1970-1978) ★ Roger Lemerre (1978-1979) ★ Arnold Sowinski (1979-1981) ★ Jean Serafin (1981-1982) ★ Gérard Houllier (1982-1985) ★ Joachim Marx (1985-1988) ★ Arnold Sowinski (1988) ★ Jean Parisseaux (1988-1989) ★ Philippe Redon (1989)

★ Marcel Husson (1989-1990) ★ Arnaud Dos Santos (1990-1992) ★ Patrice Bergues (1992-1996) ★ Slavo Muslin (1996-1997) ★ Roger Lemerre (1997) ★ Daniel Leclercq (1997-1999) ★ François Brisson (1999-2000) ★ Rolland Courbis (2000-2001) ★ Georges Tournay (2001) ★ Joël Muller (2001-January 2005) ★ Francis Gillot (January 2005-2007) ★ Guy Roux (2007) ★ Jean-Pierre Papin (August 2007-)

See also

★ Derby du Nord

External links

★ Official website

★ Non-official website: Daily news, club history, interviews and photos, message board

★ Polish site about Racing Club de Lens

★ Non-official website: news, forum, stats, history

★ Lens formations at football-lineups.com