At the start of the season, few would have expected PSG to be challenged for the top spot in Ligue 1. This time last season, the eventual Champions League winners were already ten points clear of Marseille in second place. Now, they are neck and neck with RC Lens. A historic club from the north of France, with a passionate fanbase and a blistering run of form.
Lens has been there before. In the 2022/23 season, the “sang-et-or” (blood and gold), as Lens is often nicknamed for their emblematic colour combination, finished second, only a single point behind PSG. What followed was a mass departure of key players, a seventh-place finish, and a group-stage exit in the Champions League. Three years on, Lens is once again (or rather still) at the top of its game owing to, amongst others, a business approach pioneered in the Premier League by Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Highs, the Lows, and New Beginnings
To understand RC Lens’ present success, one cannot ignore its past, as it is by no means a no-name in the French game. The club was founded by students in 1906, in the city of Lens, with a population of roughly 33,000. In 1933, RC Lens moved into the Bollaert stadium, which serves as its home to this day and has, over the years, expanded to a capacity of over 38,000 – some 5,000 more than the city’s population.
A club exceeding its size, RC Lens won the Ligue 2 and recorded a couple of runner-up finishes in the Ligue 1 in the 1940s and 50s. In 1988, the club was bought by local millionaire Gervais Martel, under whom the sang-et-or lived their heyday, winning both the Ligue 1 and the French Cup in consecutive seasons, 1997/98 and 1998/99 respectively.
Despite being a regular feature in European competitions, a string of bad league finishes, financial troubles, and a deteriorating club culture saw the side relegated to Ligue 2 in 2008. It went on to spend 9 of the following 12 seasons in the second tier of French football.
This is where, in 2017, Joseph Oughourlian comes in. Born in Paris and based in London, the 45-year-old founder of asset management firm Amber Capital had no apparent connection to the region or a history in the world of football. The discreet, business-minded, and ambitious presence in the boardroom nevertheless worked a treat. In 2019, the club’s losses shrank from €17 million to €3 million, and in the following year, RC Lens finally celebrated promotion back to the top flight.
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The ‘Brighton Method’
Despite RC Lens’ newfound ambitions, Oughourlian understood that there were two things he could not change: the fans, and the club’s humble identity. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the chairman made a pledge to supporters to maintain accessible ticket prices. Once in Ligue 1, he also became one of the most vocal critics of the league’s TV rights being acquired by Qatari media group BeIN, founded and presided by PSG owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
While Oughourlian’s involvement with the club did provide an initial financial impulse, RC Lens would need a much more shrewd approach to generating funds to compete with some of the financial megalodons of Ligue 1. Just across the Straight of Dover, one team in particular was enjoying success with a pragmatic, data-driven transfer policy and a stronger connection with the academy. Brighton & Hove Albion, presided by another young entrepreneur and football club owner in Tony Bloom, managed to establish themselves in the Premier League while remaining widely profitable.
RC Lens managed to replicate that model with remarkable success. Since their return to Ligue 1, they have never finished outside the top 10. All the while, they are the 6th most profitable club in Europe based on transfers, according to the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES). Between 2021 and 2025, RC Lens bought players for €122 million and sold for €256 million. That makes a net profit of €134 million. Only Benfica, Atalanta, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, and indeed Brighton went even further into the green.
The most notable departures include the likes of Loïs Openda to Leipzig or Abdukodir Khusanov to Manchester City, both for a fee of €40 million. Yet, the “seller club” label has not always sat well with fans. Especially after the successful runner-up season of 2022/23 and the vision of Champions League money, many supporters were optimistic about retaining their key players. The opposite was true, with Oughourlian under fire for such inadaptability.
Away from the strictly footballing and financial side of things, a structurally robust management has been crucial to steadying the ship. Arnaud Pouille was the general director between 2017 and 2024, when he departed due to “opposing views on strategy” with the club’s ownership. Benjamin Parrot replaced Pouille in his role, and Jean-Louis Leca, formerly a goalkeeper for RC Lens between 2018 and 2024, became the sporting coordinator. Their mission? An even more efficient method of data-based recruitment.
This is where the link to Brighton becomes more apparent. In September 2025, Parrot revealed that RC Lens had a brand new data analysis tool at their disposal during the summer transfer window. While the unnamed tool was supposedly only intended to “confirm their choices,” he also pointed out it was “important that their transfer targets pass this filter.”
Independent football journalist Romain Molina later alleged that this tool was created by StarLizard, a data analytics company founded by Brighton owner Tony Bloom himself. The StarLizard system used by Brighton, Jamestown Analytics, has been dubbed “the most cutting-edge data company in football” by The Times. Whether RC Lens makes use of that same system, however, remains unconfirmed.
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En Route to a Historic Upset
Little can be said about RC Lens’ current run of form without a mention of Pierre Sage who took over as manager in the summer, after having been released by Olympique Lyonnais a half a year prior.
Sticking to a 3-4-2-1 formation, which RC Lens had also employed in the previous season, Sage reimagined the offensive profile of his team entirely – a more direct, fast-paced transition game that allows offensive players more positional freedom, unlocking more attacking options during in-game situations.
Regarding the players at Sage’s disposal, the 2025/26 season started in true RC Lens fashion, with the departure of several key players. Tottenham and Galatasaray lifted their loan-to-buy options on Kevin Danso and Przemyslaw Frankowski. Neil El Aynaoui and Andy Diouf both made big-money moves to AS Roma and Inter Milan respectively, and defensive strongholds in centre-back Facundo Medina and goalkeeper Mathew Ryan also left the club.
On the incoming side, an even longer list of names, but not a single fee exceeding €8 million. Samson Baidoo, Mamadou Sangaré, Mathieu Udol, Robin Risser, Morgan Guilavougi, and Odsonne Édouard have all been regular starters this season, at an aggregate price of just over €30 million. Perhaps counterintuitively, Abdallah Sima, who was brought in from Brighton, made little impact so far.
Possibly the most impressive addition, however, is Florian Thauvin. The World Cup champion from 2018 returned to France after brief spells abroad with Tigres and Udinese, and has played himself right back into the conversation for a spot on France’s 2026 World Cup roster.
His five goals and two assists in 18 games are merely the tip of the iceberg of the 32-year-old’s blistering form. He has blossomed in his free-roaming role, allowing him to drop into a more play-making position, drift out wide to take on defenders one-on-one, or drive on goal on the counterattack.
The bet on experience seems to be working out. New additions Udol and Édouard are also pushing 30. Club captain Adrien Thomasson, a reliable and tireless central midfielder, is 32 years old. Winter addition Mathieu Gorgelin, a backup goalkeeper, is the most senior player at the club at 35. RC Lens now has an experienced core to rely on, help younger players – some of whom will inevitably leave for large sums of money come the end of the season – improve, and ease expectations amidst potential title hopes.
Before their most recent 3-1 defeat away in Marseille, RC Lens have not dropped a single point since October. Two of their other three league defeats came in the first four games of the season, in the home opener against Olympique Lyonnais and later against PSG. The only other times the sang-et-or lost out on the full three points were a 0-0 draw to Rennes and a surprising 2-0 defeat away at last-place Metz.
On the contrary, several statement victories such as 3-0 against Lille or 1-4 against Monaco, show that RC Lens is not at all crawling through the eye of the needle to be where they are in the Ligue 1 standings. Their upcoming games against the likes of Rennes, Strasbourg, and Monaco, all teams in the top 10, will be
On the contrary, several statement victories such as 3-0 against Lille or 1-4 against Monaco, show that Lens is not at all crawling through the eye of the needle to be where they are in the Ligue 1 standings.
Main Photo
Credit: IMAGO / PsnewZ
Recording Date: 04.02.2026
