Racing Club de Lens – also known as RC Lens and commonly shortened simply to Lens – is a French professional football club based in Lens, Pas-de-Calais and currently playing in the country's top tier Ligue 1. The club plays home games at Stade Bollaert-Delelis.
Founded in 1906 by some local students who would often play football together, the club's name was derived from a couple of popular contemporary clubs, Racing Club de France and Racing Club de Roubaix. The team originally wore a green and black kit but this changed to red and gold in 1924 (apparently to echo the Spanish flag) and they became known as Le Sang et Or (the Blood and Gold). Lens had a positive start to the 20th century and slow progress followed by great success coming in the late 1990s when they won Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the Coupe de la Ligue, and the UEFA Cup. In recent years, Lens have finished strongly in Ligue 1.
