A miracle à la Montpellierat this point in the season seems almost impossible. As we write, Lens is 4 points behind the league leaders PSG, but with one more game played and four losses in the last ten matches. Yet, even just having entertained the idea of an upset, leading the Parisians at the top of Ligue 1 for a total of six matchdays, illustrates how the small yellow-red club has become a pleasant outsider in the hierarchy of the French league. And while PSG’s unbeatable squad is worth a stunning 1.21 billion euros, Lens’s squad is worth almost ten times less: 193.5 million. They rank only eighth in market value among Ligue 1 teams, dropping two more positions in terms of transfer budget.
How did they achieve this long-term success? “Our strategy is to keep costs stable because we know revenues will continue to decline,” explained Benjamin Parrot, the club’s general manager, speaking with the BBC. “In France, we have to compete against billionaires, foreign sovereign funds, and powerful multi-ownerships. Our goal must remain to balance the budget: we have integrated a good number of young players into the team and improved some of our infrastructures.” It’s a matter of keeping the finances in order, but not only that. Because Lens must also respect its history: “Maybe other clubs like to spend more, but that’s not part of our identity.”
That is, a humble environment, with football grown around a large working-class community in northern France. “Our club has its roots in the mining companies, in an area with a 60% rate of social housing,” Parrot explains. “We have a duty to be reasonable financially: it’s an aspect of our tradition that is right to continue observing. Lens indeed plays an important socioeconomic role in a region characterized by the highest unemployment rate in the country, with the lowest average salary. We feel the responsibility.”
And it is also in this context – even if today the yellow-reds downplay it – that part of the controversy from a few weeks ago against PSG is situated, with Lens standing as David against the Goliath of French football. A matter of priorities, which Ligue 1 has evidently granted to the Parisians by postponing the big league match against Lens since Hakimi and his teammates were engaged in the Champions League against Liverpool. A “kindness” that the outsider did not particularly appreciate, because according to the new schedule, they will have to play three matches in one week at the peak of the season. “It seems to us that a worrying sentiment is spreading,” Lens noted on X. “That of a French league that is gradually being relegated to the role of mere variable to accommodate the European ambitions of certain parties. This is a peculiar conception of sports fairness, difficult to find in other major continental competitions. It would therefore seem that the tenth largest league in the world must adapt to the demands of the most powerful clubs.” Meanwhile, Lens acts as the spokesperson for the oppressed.
In short, while the title race this year seems fairly defined, Racing’s journey is primarily an excellent starting point. And every Sunday, a pleasure for the fans: the goals of Odsonne Edouard – already 12 in Ligue 1 –, the best season of Wesley Said’s career – a veteran with over 100 appearances for the club –, the resurgence of Flo Thauvin with the class and personality of his best times. It would have been nice to see them win the league. And maybe it will happen, sooner or later.