# 2023–24 RC Lens season

The 2023–24 season was Racing Club de Lens' 117th season in existence and fourth consecutive season in Ligue 1. They also competed in the Coupe de France, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League.

## Players
### First-team squad

    As of 1 February 2024
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 2 | DF | FRA | Ruben Aguilar |
| 3 | DF | COL | Deiver Machado |
| 4 | DF | AUT | Kevin Danso |
| 6 | MF | GHA | Salis Abdul Samed |
| 7 | FW | FRA | Florian Sotoca |
| 9 | FW | FRA | Elye Wahi |
| 10 | MF | POR | David Costa |
| 11 | MF | FRA | Angelo Fulgini |
| 13 | DF | ECU | Jhoanner Chávez (on loan from Bahia) |
| 14 | DF | ARG | Facundo Medina |
| 16 | GK | FRA | Jean-Louis Leca |
| 18 | MF | FRA | Andy Diouf |
| 19 | MF | FRA | Jimmy Cabot |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 21 | DF | MLI | Massadio Haïdara |
| 22 | FW | FRA | Wesley Saïd |
| 23 | MF | MAR | Neil El Aynaoui |
| 24 | DF | FRA | Jonathan Gradit |
| 25 | DF | UZB | Abdukodir Khusanov |
| 26 | MF | SEN | Nampalys Mendy |
| 27 | FW | GUI | Morgan Guilavogui |
| 28 | MF | FRA | Adrien Thomasson |
| 29 | MF | POL | Przemysław Frankowski |
| 30 | GK | FRA | Brice Samba (captain) |
| 36 | FW | FRA | Ibrahima Baldé |
| 40 | GK | COM | Yannick Pandor |

### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 5 | MF | NED | Stijn Spierings (at Toulouse until 30 June 2024) |
| 15 | FW | COL | Óscar Cortés (at Rangers until 30 June 2024) |
| — | DF | FRA | Julien Le Cardinal (at Brest until 30 June 2024) |
| — | MF | GLP | Rémy Labeau (at Laval until 30 June 2024) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | POL | Łukasz Poręba (at Hamburger SV until 30 June 2024) |
| — | MF | MLI | Mamadou Camara (at Nancy until 30 June 2024) |
| — | FW | POL | Adam Buksa (at Antalyaspor until 30 June 2024) |

## Transfers
### In

| Pos. | Player | Transferred from | Fee | Date |
| MF | Neil El Aynaoui | Nancy | €600,000 | 1 July 2023 |
| FW | Morgan Guilavogui | Paris FC | €4,000,000 | 1 July 2023 |
| MF | Stijn Spierings | Toulouse | Free | 1 July 2023 |
| MF | Andy Diouf | Basel | €15,000,000 | 2 July 2023 |
| MF | Óscar Cortés | Millonarios | €4,500,000 | 14 July 2023 |
| DF | Abdukodir Khusanov | Energetik-BGU | Undisclosed | 24 July 2023 |
| FW | Elye Wahi | Montpellier | €30,000,000 | 20 August 2023 |
| DF | Ruben Aguilar | Monaco | Undisclosed | 1 September 2023 |
| DF | Faitout Maouassa | Club Brugge | Loan | 2 September 2023 |
| DF | Jhoanner Chávez | Bahia | Loan | 9 January 2024 |

### Out

| Pos. | Player | Transferred to | Fee | Date |
| FW | Rémy Labeau | Laval | Loan | 1 July 2023 |
| DF | Ismaël Boura | Troyes | Free | 1 July 2023 |
| DF | Adrien Louveau | ŁKS Łódź | Free | 13 July 2023 |
| FW | Loïs Openda | RB Leipzig | €43,000,000 | 14 July 2023 |
| FW | Adam Buksa | Antalyaspor | Loan | 18 July 2023 |
| MF | Seko Fofana | Al Nassr | €19,000,000 | 18 July 2023 |
| MF | Jean Onana | Beşiktaş | €4,000,000 | 21 July 2023 |
| MF | Łukasz Poręba | Hamburger SV | Loan | 30 August 2023 |
| DF | Julien Le Cardinal | Brest | Loan | 1 September 2023 |
| MF | Stijn Spierings | Toulouse | Loan | 14 September 2023 |

## Pre-season and friendlies

Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

## Competitions
### Overall record

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Ligue 1 | 13 August 2023 | 19 May 2024 | Matchday 1 | 7th | 34 | 14 | 9 | 11 | 45 | 37 | +8 | 041.18 |
| Coupe de France | 7 January 2024 | 7 January 2024 | Round of 64 | Round of 64 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +0 | 000.00 |
| UEFA Champions League | 20 September 2023 | 12 December 2023 | Group stage | Group stage | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 11 | −5 | 033.33 |
| UEFA Europa League | 15 February 2024 | 22 February 2024 | Knockout round play-offs | Knockout round play-offs | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 000.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 43 | 16 | 13 | 14 | 55 | 53 | +2 | 037.21 |
Source: Soccerway

### Ligue 1
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 5 | Nice | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 40 | 29 | +11 | 55 | Qualification for the Europa League league phase |
| 6 | Lyon | 34 | 16 | 5 | 13 | 49 | 55 | −6 | 53 | Qualification for the Europa League league phase |
| 7 | Lens | 34 | 14 | 9 | 11 | 45 | 37 | +8 | 51 | Qualification for the Conference League play-off round |
| 8 | Marseille | 34 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 52 | 41 | +11 | 50 | |
| 9 | Reims | 34 | 13 | 8 | 13 | 42 | 47 | −5 | 47 | |
* ↑ Since the 2023–24 Coupe de France winners, Paris Saint-Germain, qualified for the Champions League via league position, the Europa League berth awarded to the cup winners was passed to the sixth-placed team and the Conference League berth was passed to the seventh-placed team.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: Ligue 1

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Ground | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | L | D | L | L | L | W | W | D | D | W | D | W | W | W | D | W | L | L | W | W | W | D | L | W | W | L | L | D | L | W | L | W | D | D |
| Position | 13 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 18 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 |

#### Matches

The league fixtures were unveiled on 29 June 2023.

### UEFA Champions League
#### Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 31 August 2023.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ARS | PSV | LEN | SEV |
| 1 | Arsenal | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 4 | +12 | 13 | Advance to knockout phase | — | 4–0 | 6–0 | 2–0 |
| 2 | PSV Eindhoven | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 10 | −2 | 9 | Advance to knockout phase | 1–1 | — | 1–0 | 2–2 |
| 3 | Lens | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 11 | −5 | 8 | Transfer to Europa League | 2–1 | 1–1 | — | 2–1 |
| 4 | Sevilla | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 12 | −5 | 2 | | 1–2 | 2–3 | 1–1 | — |

### UEFA Europa League
#### Knockout phase
##### Knockout round play-offs

The draw for the knockout round play-offs was held on 18 December 2023.