RC Lens Finances 2021/22

Money Don't Matter 2 Night

There have been a few surprise stories in European football this season, but perhaps none so heartwarming as RC Lens qualifying for the Champions League.

Under manager of the year Franck Haise, Lens have played the most attractive football in France, gaining them many admirers. Their attacking, dynamic style helped them convincingly beat Paris Saint-Germain, Marseille and Monaco on the way to finishing second in Ligue 1, just one point behind the mega rich Parisians.

As Haise pointed out, “Three years ago, we were in Ligue 2. It means a lot of work has been done. To bring Lens back into Europe is a great pride.”

Given their small budget, Lens can be considered to be genuine underdogs, though their success is not completely unprecedented, as they actually have one French championship in their list of honours, albeit 25 years ago in 1998.

Since then, the club known as the “blood and gold”, in a reference to their traditional colours, has faced quite a few challenges, spending many seasons in France’s second tier.

Ownership

There was much financial uncertainty under the former owner, Azerbaijani businessman Hafiz Mammadov, culminating in Lens not providing a sufficient bank guarantee in 2014. As a result, the French football authorities effectively canceled that season’s promotion from Ligue 2, though the debate took a while to reach a conclusion, so this was only effected via a forced relegation at the end of 2014/15.

Things look a lot better for Lens under the current owner, Joseph Oughourlian, who bought the club in 2016, before becoming president in 2018. During his tenure, Lens first won promotion to Ligue 1 in 2020, then finished in an impressive 7th place in both their first two seasons back in the top flight, before securing a place in the lucrative Champions League.

That’s a notable achievement, but what is even more striking is that they have managed to do this without spending huge amounts, as can be seen by reviewing Lens’ financials.

Profit/(Loss) before Tax

In 2021/22 Lens swung from a €24m pre-tax loss to a €2m profit, the first time that the club had been in the black for six years. Revenue rose €14m (42%) from €33m to €47m, while profit from player sales shot up €23m from €2m to €25m.

These gains were partially offset by operating expenses increasing €10m (17%) to €72m, while net interest payable was up from €0.4m to €1.8m. Exceptional items were slightly higher at €2.6m.

The revenue increase was driven by the return of fans to the stadium after COVID restrictions were lifted, which led to match day increasing from just €437k to €9.3m and helped push commercial up €6.4m (59%) from €10.9m to a club record €17.3m.

However, broadcasting fell €1.2m (6%) from €22.0m to €20.8m, because the previous season included some revenue deferred from the extended 2019/20 season for games played after the club’s 30th June accounting close.

Investment in the squad led to increases in both the wage bill, up €3.3m (10%) from €34.7m to €38.0m, and player amortisation, up €4.8m (67%) from €7.1m to €11.9m, though agent fees fell €0.3m (12%) from €2.5m to €2.2m.

Other expenses also increased €2.4m (14%) from €17.1m to €19.5m, mainly due to the higher cost of staging games with fans.