# 2020–21 RC Lens season

The 2020–21 season was the 115th season in the existence of RC Lens and the club's first season back 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 covered the period from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021.

## Players
### First-team squad

    As of 29 January 2021.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 3 | DF | GUI | Issiaga Sylla (on loan from Toulouse) |
| 4 | DF | FRA | Loïc Badé |
| 5 | DF | FRA | Zakaria Diallo |
| 7 | FW | FRA | Florian Sotoca |
| 8 | MF | CIV | Seko Fofana |
| 9 | FW | CMR | Ignatius Ganago |
| 10 | MF | COD | Gaël Kakuta (on loan from Amiens) |
| 11 | DF | FRA | Jonathan Clauss |
| 13 | DF | FRA | Clément Michelin |
| 14 | DF | ARG | Facundo Medina |
| 15 | DF | CPV | Steven Fortès |
| 16 | GK | FRA | Jean-Louis Leca (vice-captain) |
| 18 | MF | FRA | Yannick Cahuzac (captain) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 19 | DF | FRA | Ismael Boura |
| 20 | DF | MLI | Cheick Traoré |
| 21 | DF | MLI | Massadio Haïdara |
| 22 | MF | FRA | Tony Mauricio |
| 23 | FW | FRA | Simon Banza |
| 24 | DF | FRA | Jonathan Gradit |
| 25 | FW | FRA | Corentin Jean |
| 28 | MF | MLI | Cheick Doucouré |
| 29 | FW | FRA | Arnaud Kalimuendo (on loan from PSG) |
| 30 | GK | VEN | Wuilker Faríñez (on loan from Millonarios) |
| 34 | MF | POR | David Costa |
| 35 | DF | FRA | Adrien Louveau |
| — | MF | FRA | Adam Oudjani |

### 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 |
| — | GK | FRA | Valentin Belon (on loan at Laval) |
| — | GK | FRA | Thomas Vincensini (on loan at Bastia) |
| — | FW | FRA | Gaëtan Robail (on loan at Valenciennes FC) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | SCO | Charles Boli (on loan at Paris FC) |
| — | MF | FRA | Tom Ducrocq (on loan at Bastia) |
| — | FW | GUI | Jules Keita (on loan at CSKA Sofia) |

## Transfers
### In

| No. | Pos | Player | Transferred from | Fee | Date | Source |
| 15 | | | TBD | | 1 July 2020 | |

### Out

| No. | Pos | Player | Transferred to | Fee | Date | Source |
| 15 | | | TBD | | 1 July 2020 | |

## Pre-season and friendlies

Win  Draw  Loss

## 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 | 23 August 2020 | 23 May 2021 | Matchday 1 | 7th | 38 | 15 | 12 | 11 | 55 | 54 | +1 | 039.47 |
| Coupe de France | 10 February 2021 | 6 March 2021 | Round of 64 | Round of 32 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 050.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 40 | 16 | 12 | 12 | 61 | 59 | +2 | 040.00 |
Last updated: 23 May 2021 Source: Soccerway

### Ligue 1
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 5 | Marseille | 38 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 54 | 47 | +7 | 60 | Qualification for the Europa League group stage |
| 6 | Rennes | 38 | 16 | 10 | 12 | 52 | 40 | +12 | 58 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-off round |
| 7 | Lens | 38 | 15 | 12 | 11 | 55 | 54 | +1 | 57 | |
| 8 | Montpellier | 38 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 60 | 62 | −2 | 54 | |
| 9 | Nice | 38 | 15 | 7 | 16 | 50 | 53 | −3 | 52 | |
* 1 2 Since the winners of the 2020–21 Coupe de France, Paris Saint-Germain, qualified for European competition based on league position, the Europa League group stage spot reserved for the cup winners was passed to the fifth-placed team, and the Europa Conference League play-off round spot was passed to the sixth-placed team.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 23 May 2021. 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 | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | L | W | W | W | D | W | L | D | W | D | W | L | W | L | W | L | W | L | L | D | L | W | D | D | D | W | D | W | D | W | D | W | D | W | L | L | L | D |
| Position | 17 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 |

#### Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 9 July 2020.

### 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 ||||||||||
| 16 | GK | FRA | Jean-Louis Leca | 25 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | GK | VEN | Wuilker Faríñez | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Defenders ||||||||||
| 3 | DF | GUI | Issiaga Sylla | 18 | 1 | 11+6 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | FRA | Loïc Badé | 21 | 0 | 18+2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | FRA | Zakaria Diallo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | DF | FRA | Jonathan Clauss | 21 | 0 | 17+3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 | DF | FRA | Clément Michelin | 18 | 0 | 10+7 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | ARG | Facundo Medina | 18 | 2 | 16+1 | 2 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | CPV | Steven Fortès | 13 | 0 | 10+2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 20 | DF | MLI | Cheick Traoré | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | MLI | Massadio Haïdara | 15 | 0 | 14+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | DF | FRA | Jonathan Gradit | 22 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 35 | DF | FRA | Ismaël Boura | 14 | 0 | 7+7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||
| 8 | MF | CIV | Seko Fofana | 20 | 0 | 14+5 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | COD | Gaël Kakuta | 25 | 9 | 22+2 | 9 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | FRA | Yannick Cahuzac | 20 | 0 | 16+3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 22 | MF | FRA | Tony Mauricio | 19 | 0 | 1+17 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 28 | MF | MLI | Cheick Doucouré | 23 | 3 | 19+3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 34 | MF | POR | David Costa | 2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Forwards ||||||||||
| 7 | FW | FRA | Florian Sotoca | 25 | 7 | 22+2 | 7 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | CMR | Ignatius Ganago | 18 | 5 | 11+7 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | FW | FRA | Simon Banza | 23 | 3 | 9+14 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | FW | FRA | Corentin Jean | 16 | 2 | 3+12 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 29 | FW | FRA | Arnaud Kalimuendo | 18 | 5 | 7+10 | 4 | 0+1 | 1 |
| Players transferred out during the season ||||||||||
| 1 | GK | FRA | Didier Desprez | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 | DF | SRB | Aleksandar Radovanović | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | FRA | Manuel Perez | 4 | 0 | 1+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | SCO | Charles Boli | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | FRA | Gaëtan Robail | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | FW | BFA | Cyrille Bayala | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Last updated: 13 February 2021 Source: Competitions

### Goalscorers

    As of 18 October 2020
| Rank | No. | Pos | Nat | Name | Ligue 1 | Coupe de France | Total |
| 1 | 10 | MF | | Gaël Kakuta | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 1 | 27 | FW | | Ignatius Ganago | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2 | 14 | DF | | Facundo Medina | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | 7 | FW | | Florian Sotoca | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | 10 | 0 | 10 |