In 2023/24, Racing Club de Lens finished seventh in the Ligue 1 table, narrowly missing out on a place in the UEFA Europa League on the very last matchday. After a 2-2 draw against Montpellier, in which RCL let a 2-0 lead slip away, Olympique Lyon squeezed past them in the standings. Lens will therefore compete in the UEFA Conference League play-offs next season.
Last season, the tradition-rich club from the once important coal-mining region, who were founded in 1906, played in the UEFA Champions League. The Red & Yellows finished third in a group with Arsenal, PSV Eindhoven and Sevilla before being eliminated in the Europa League knockout stages by SC Freiburg (0-0; 2-3 aet).
The previous year, Lens had gone head-to-head with Paris Saint-Germain for the Ligue 1 title. In the end, despite a strong finish to the 2022/23 campaign with seven consecutive wins, RCL finished just one point behind PSG in second place, thus narrowly missing out on their second title to go with their triumph in 1997/98. Striker Lois Openda, who subsequently moved to RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga, played a major role in this fine season with 21 goals.
Until recently, Franck Haise was the Lens coach. Under the 53-year-old, RC were promoted back to Ligue 1 in 2020 after several years in the second tier. After two seventh-place finishes, Haise then led the club to the runners-up spot two seasons ago. A few weeks ago, the Frenchman moved to league rivals OGC Nice on the Côte d'Azur.
Will Still has been the new head coach at Lens since 1 July. The Belgian-born son of English parents had previously spent two years at French first division club Stade Reims and was the youngest coach in Europe's top five leagues at the age of 31. For Pierre Dréossi, General Director of RC Lens, Still was "our absolute priority to fill the coaching position." The Brit is one of the most promising coaches in Ligue 1.
One of the key players in his new team is Austrian international Kevin Danso. As a centre-back, the former Augsburg and Düsseldorf player was part of the squad for Austria at the European Championships in Germany. At Lens, Danso developed into one of the top defenders in Ligue 1 and made a significant contribution to the Red & Yellows boasting the best defence in the French league in the 2022/23 season, conceding just 29 goals in 38 games. Goalkeeper and captain Brice Samba is also a guarantee for their strong defence. Additionally, the Argentinian Facundo Medina and Polish international Przemyslaw Frankowski are also regulars in the back line. New signings include centre-back Malang Sarr from Chelsea FC and Ecuadorian Jhoanner Chavez, an international team-mate of Werkself star Piero Hincapie.
In attack, France U23 international Elye Wahi broke into the forefront last season. With nine goals, he was his team's top scorer, closely followed by Florian Sotoca and Wesley Said with seven goals apiece. Fellow striker Morgan Guilavogui was loaned out to FC St. Pauli this summer.
Lens are a force to be reckoned with, especially at home in the Stade Bollaert-Delelis. Opened in 1933, the stadium is located in the heart of the city and has been renovated and remodelled several times over the decades. It was a venue for the 1984 and 2016 UEFA European Championships as well as the 1998 World Cup. Today, it boasts a capacity of 38,223 spectators and is usually sold out. This is astonishing, as Lens only has a population of around 32,000.
The region and the stadium are also known for the comedy flick "Welcome to the Sticks" (2008). Anyone travelling with the Werkself to Lens can also look forward to an extraordinary, family atmosphere in the Stade Bollaert-Delelis, where the singing is loud and passionate. The fans' standing-only terrace is located along the touchline and not behind one of the goals as usual. And as the enthusiasm is so great, season tickets are hard to come by.
Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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With their wonderful goals, Martin Terrier and Florian Wirtz are up for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025. Voting for fans will run exclusively via the official Bundesliga app until Sunday, 4 January.
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Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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The ‘year after’ the most successful year in the club's history brought many changes at Bayer 04. In an exclusive double interview with bayer04.de shortly before the Christmas break, Fernando Carro and Simon Rolfes spoke about building a new team capable of winning trophies, the work of coach Kasper Hjulmand, the young new signings who have quickly developed into key players, and their personal plans for the Christmas holidays. Their outlook for the coming year also shows that the potential is far from exhausted and ambitions remain high.
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Last-minute ecstasy, huge disappointment and a historic performance on the European stage - 2025 was a real emotional roller coaster, especially for the U19s. A rousing run in the knockout phase secured the team a place in the final of the German championships, where they lost by the narrowest of margins. Despite the departure of several key players, the young Werkself team quickly regained their usual strength and qualified for the knockout rounds in the UEFA Youth League for the first time at the end of the year. In 2025, youngsters Jeremiah Mensah and Montrell Culbreath made their debuts in the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal and the UEFA Champions League. The other youth teams also contributed great performances and a number of trophies to the collective Black and Red success, while the successful Bayer 04 Future Kids project broke new ground. Read on for the 2025 review of the youth teams.
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