Racing Club De Lens, often referred to as RC Lens won promotion in the 2013/14 season and currently play their football in Ligue 1. The club's origins date back to 1905, with the name 'Racing Club de Lens' being a reference to the Racing Club de Roubaix and the Racing Club De France, which were popular at the time.
The club originally played in green and black to represent the founding location. They wore green to represent the name, "Verte", meaning green in French, and black to represent the omnipresence of local coal mines. After a period of non-activity owing to World War 1, RC Lens restarted in 1919 but with a new sky blue kit.
It was in 1924 that the red and gold colours appeared. People have said that the colours were inspired from the coal mines; the red for the blood of the miners and the gold for the coal which was valuable at the time. It was also in 1924 that the club was authorised to play at the newly built municipal stadium Raoul Briquet.
Unfortunately the club suffered a setback in 1962 as the local mines were shut down and many of the players were also miners. This made player retention difficult and the club generally struggled throughout the 60’s.
Better fortune was seen in the 70's as Lens reached the semi-finals of the French Cup, and the arrival of two Polish players helped the club return to the French 1st division.
In 1988, a local businessman took over the club. Which saw a fairly stable period to come. Lens succeeded in becoming French Champions, League Cup semi-finalists and finalist of the French Cup, losing against PSG in the final. They won a 2nd major title in 1999 with the League Cup against Metz. They are the only club to have beaten Arsenal at Wembley when they qualified for the Champions League.
After spending many seasons since 2000 yoyo-ing between Ligue 1 and 2, Lens sealed promotion back to Ligue 1 on the final day of the 2013/14 season following a 2-0 win at Bastia. However, in a dramatic twist it was announced on 29 January 2015 that Lens' promotion from Ligue 2 has been ruled invalid, and will thus be automatically relegated to Ligue 2 for the 2015–16 season, regardless of where the team place. Football Ticket Pad has RC Lens tickets, so are looking to watch a team who are never short on drama then this could be the team to choose!
