# 2022–23 RC Lens season

The 2022–23 RC Lens season was the club's 117th season in existence and the club's third consecutive season in the top flight of French football. In addition to the domestic league, Lens participated in this season's edition of the Coupe de France. The season covers the period from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023.

## Players
### First-team squad

    As of 1 February 2023.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | VEN | Wuilker Faríñez |
| 3 | DF | COL | Deiver Machado |
| 4 | DF | AUT | Kevin Danso |
| 6 | MF | CMR | Jean Onana |
| 7 | FW | FRA | Florian Sotoca |
| 8 | MF | CIV | Seko Fofana (captain) |
| 9 | FW | POL | Adam Buksa |
| 10 | MF | POR | David Costa |
| 11 | FW | BEL | Loïs Openda |
| 13 | MF | POL | Łukasz Poręba |
| 14 | DF | ARG | Facundo Medina |
| 15 | DF | CPV | Steven Fortès |
| 16 | GK | FRA | Jean-Louis Leca |
| 18 | FW | FRA | Alexis Claude-Maurice (on loan from Nice) |
| 19 | MF | FRA | Jimmy Cabot |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 20 | MF | FRA | Angelo Fulgini (on loan from Mainz 05) |
| 21 | DF | MLI | Massadio Haïdara |
| 22 | FW | FRA | Wesley Saïd |
| 23 | DF | COM | Ismaël Boura |
| 24 | DF | FRA | Jonathan Gradit |
| 25 | DF | FRA | Julien Le Cardinal |
| 26 | MF | GHA | Salis Abdul Samed |
| 28 | MF | FRA | Adrien Thomasson |
| 29 | MF | POL | Przemysław Frankowski |
| 30 | GK | FRA | Brice Samba |
| 34 | MF | MLI | Yaya Fofana |
| 35 | DF | FRA | Adrien Louveau |
| 40 | GK | COM | Yannick Pandor |
| — | MF | SEN | Mamadou Camara |

### 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 |
| — | MF | FRA | Tom Ducrocq (on loan to Bastia) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | FW | FRA | Ibrahima Baldé (on loan to Annecy) |

## Transfers
### In

| No. | Pos | Player | Transferred from | Fee | Date |
| 26 | MF | Salis Abdul Samed | Clermont | Undisclosed | 24 June 2022 |
| 13 | MF | Łukasz Poręba | Zagłębie Lubin | Free | 1 July 2022 |
| 30 | GK | Brice Samba | Nottingham Forest | Undisclosed | 5 July 2022 |
| 11 | FW | Loïs Openda | Club Brugge | Undisclosed | 6 July 2022 |

### Out

| No. | Pos | Player | Transferred to | Fee | Date | Source |
| 25 | FW | Corentin Jean | Inter Miami | Undisclosed | 29 June 2022 | |
| 28 | MF | Cheick Doucouré | Crystal Palace | Undisclosed | 11 July 2022 | |

## 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 | 7 August 2022 | 3 June 2023 | Matchday 1 | 2nd | 38 | 25 | 9 | 4 | 68 | 29 | +39 | 065.79 |
| Coupe de France | 7 January 2023 | 1 March 2023 | Round of 64 | Quarter-finals | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 050.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 42 | 27 | 10 | 5 | 75 | 33 | +42 | 064.29 |
Source: Soccerway

### Ligue 1
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Paris Saint-Germain (C) | 38 | 27 | 4 | 7 | 89 | 40 | +49 | 85 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Lens | 38 | 25 | 9 | 4 | 68 | 29 | +39 | 84 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Marseille | 38 | 22 | 7 | 9 | 67 | 40 | +27 | 73 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round |
| 4 | Rennes | 38 | 21 | 5 | 12 | 69 | 39 | +30 | 68 | Qualification for the Europa League group stage |
| 5 | Lille | 38 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 65 | 44 | +21 | 67 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-off round |

#### 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 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Ground | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A |
| Result | W | D | W | W | W | D | W | D | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | D | W | D | W | D | L | D | L | W | D | D | W | W | W | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | W | W |
| Position | 5 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Points | 3 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 14 | 17 | 18 | 21 | 21 | 24 | 27 | 30 | 33 | 36 | 37 | 40 | 41 | 44 | 45 | 45 | 46 | 46 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 54 | 57 | 60 | 63 | 63 | 66 | 69 | 72 | 75 | 78 | 81 | 84 |

#### Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 17 June 2022.

### Coupe de France
## Statistics
### Appearances and goals

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Ligue 1 | Ligue 1 | Coupe de France | Coupe de France |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||
| 1 | GK | VEN | Wuilker Faríñez | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | GK | FRA | Jean-Louis Leca | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 30 | GK | FRA | Brice Samba | 37 | 0 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | GK | COM | Yannick Pandor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Defenders ||||||||||
| 3 | DF | COL | Deiver Machado | 30 | 3 | 23+7 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | AUT | Kevin Danso | 38 | 1 | 35 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | ARG | Facundo Medina | 33 | 3 | 30 | 2 | 2+1 | 1 |
| 15 | DF | CPV | Steven Fortès | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | MLI | Massadio Haïdara | 36 | 0 | 16+17 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | COM | Ismaël Boura | 11 | 0 | 0+9 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 24 | DF | FRA | Jonathan Gradit | 34 | 1 | 30 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 25 | DF | FRA | Julien Le Cardinal | 9 | 0 | 2+4 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 35 | DF | FRA | Adrien Louveau | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||
| 6 | MF | CMR | Jean Onana | 21 | 0 | 8+11 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | CIV | Seko Fofana | 37 | 8 | 32+1 | 6 | 2+2 | 2 |
| 10 | MF | POR | David Costa | 32 | 1 | 16+13 | 1 | 2+1 | 0 |
| 13 | MF | POL | Łukasz Poręba | 12 | 0 | 3+7 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | FRA | Jimmy Cabot | 11 | 0 | 5+6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | FRA | Angelo Fulgini | 16 | 2 | 10+4 | 1 | 1+1 | 1 |
| 26 | MF | GHA | Salis Abdul Samed | 34 | 1 | 30 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 28 | MF | FRA | Adrien Thomasson | 20 | 4 | 13+4 | 3 | 2+1 | 1 |
| 29 | MF | POL | Przemysław Frankowski | 39 | 5 | 29+6 | 5 | 1+3 | 0 |
| 34 | MF | MLI | Yaya Fofana | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | FRA | Nolan Hamidou Bonte | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| Forwards ||||||||||
| 7 | FW | FRA | Florian Sotoca | 39 | 7 | 32+3 | 6 | 1+3 | 1 |
| 9 | FW | POL | Adam Buksa | 6 | 0 | 0+6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | FW | BEL | Loïs Openda | 39 | 19 | 26+9 | 19 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 18 | FW | FRA | Alexis Claude-Maurice | 19 | 3 | 4+13 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 22 | FW | FRA | Wesley Saïd | 20 | 6 | 6+13 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| 31 | FW | FRA | Rémy Labeau | 12 | 0 | 0+10 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| Players transferred out during the season ||||||||||
Last updated: 12 May 2023 Source: Competitions