That’s what Philippe did in “Welcome to the Sch’tis”. It is one of the key scenes of the touching comedy. When the Marseille suburban official stands on the traverse of the Bollaert and the deeply cordial character of the growling Northern Lights, who are so withdrawn at first, is revealed to him.
“In Lens you can see what football means to people”
Kevin Danso also knows this feeling. “I can’t even put into words how awesome it is to play for Lens,” said the Austrian central defender in an interview with t-online, proudly showing his goosebumps. “In Lens you can just see what football means to people, how happy this sport can make them.” It’s one of the many parallels between RC Lens and Schalke 04, for example. An identity-forming, traditional and -conscious club in an underdeveloped city with extremely passionate fans. It is not for nothing that the region around Lens is known as the “Ruhr area of France.”
While in Gelsenkirchen the return to the Bundesliga was celebrated after chaotic, painful years, in Lens they are already one step further. After years as a lift club and five years in Ligue 2 in a row, the Racing Club has been first class again since 2020 – and is now preparing to move into the European Cup.
One of the guarantors of success is Danso. The 23-year-old has made 31 appearances for Lens in the current Ligue 1 season, starting 30 of them. An undisputed regular player. A role that he was not expected to play at his former club FC Augsburg. After a loan to the second division club Fortuna Düsseldorf, Danso did not want to put up with the fate of a supplementary and substitute player, wished for an environment that placed more trust in him. The offer from northern France was just right – only FCA didn’t want to let him go. After a training strike and a mud fight that took place in public for weeks, Danso finally ended up in Lens.
“I was completely convinced of my path,” explains Danso soberly. A certain satisfaction – that he is now playing for Europe in Lens, while the Fuggerstadt team had to tremble for a long time about staying up in the league with coach Markus Weinzierl – can be seen in his voice when he says: “That was a decision that I for and mean career had to make. The right decision, as this season turned out to be.”
Lens is dreaming of a return to Europe
Before the final day of the game, Lens is in seventh place. Since outsiders Nantes secured the cup and thus the second French starting place in the Europa League, the sensational champions from 1998 still have to jump to fifth place to at least reach the Conference League. A two-point deficit is a difficult but not impossible task – especially since competitor Racing Strasbourg still has to deal with Olympique Marseille, who in turn are fighting for the runner-up position and the associated direct Champions League qualification.