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Lille
Full name	Lille Olympique Sporting; Club Lille Métropole
Nickname(s)	Les Dogues (the Mastiffs), LOSC
Founded	1944
Ground	Stadium Lille-Metropole - temporary,; Stade Borne de l'Espoir; (Capacity: 18,185)
Chairman	Michel Seydoux
Manager	Rudi Garcia
League	Ligue 1
2008-09	L1, 5th

Lille Olympique Sporting Club is a French football club. Based in the northern city of Lille founded in 1944 from the merger of the Olympique Lillois (founded in 1902) and the SC Fives (founded in 1901).

[edit] History

[edit] Formation

Lille Olympique Sporting Club was formed in 1944, from the merger of Olympique Lillois and SC Fives. SC Fives club giving to the new club the "SC" in their name and their blue away kit, Olympique Lillois' red and white color are still LOSC's main colours.

In the aftermath of World War II LOSC won 2 league titles, 4 runner-up spots and 5 national cups, but later were overshadowed by the achievements of local rival RC Lens when it comes to both performances and local popularity. The intense rivalry between the two clubs can also be traced back to the social and economical backgrounds of the two cities, Lille OSC being the club of the large "bourgeois" city of Lille, capital of the French Flanders, with RC Lens coming from the modest medium sized miners' town of Lens.

[edit] Recent history

However, since their return to the French Ligue 1 in 2000, after 3 seasons in Ligue 2, Lille's results have generally bettered those of their local rivals, with three Champions League participations in 2002, 2005 and 2006 and a victory in the Intertoto Cup in 2004. In the 2004/05 Ligue 1 campaign, Lille stunned many by finishing an excellent second place in the table by the end of the season, ahead of the likes of Monaco, Marseille and of course their local rivals, Lens. A title challenge had even been mounted against Lyon though it was to be a brief one despite beating them in their home game. Lille however automatically qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stages, and hoped to make a good impression in Europe by progressing through the groups. On November 2, 2005 they recorded one of the greatest results in their history by defeating Manchester United in the Champions League group phase. However, Lille were only able to pick up one point in their final two matches. They parachuted into the UEFA Cup by finishing third in their group, leaving Manchester United behind and out of Europe in fourth place. Lille's UEFA Cup run finished in the last 16, their opponent and ultimate winners of the competition Sevilla going through 2-1 on aggregate.

In the 2005/06 Ligue 1 campaign, Lille confirmed their revival finishing third, behind Lyon (a club they managed to convincingly beat home (4-0) and away (1-3)) and Bordeaux. Their regional rivals Lens once again finished behind in 4th place. The third place meant Lille qualified for the Champions League final qualifying round. They beat Rabotnički 4-0 on aggregate and qualified for the third time in six years for the Group Stage of the UEFA Champions League, without a proper stadium. In the group stage, Lille finished 2nd behind Milan, recording another great result, at San Siro, beating Milan 2-0. Going through to the last 16, Lille was drawn against old foes, Manchester United. This time, the English giants prevailed 2-0 on aggregate, avenging the previous year's humiliating defeat. The first leg was a tumultuous affair, marred by crowd trouble and refereeing controversy. Indeed during the first leg of the second round match against Manchester United in the 2006-2007 UEFA Champions League, some Lille players appeared to temporarily leave the field of play without permission after the referee, Eric Braamhaar, gave the green light[1] for Manchester United left winger Ryan Giggs to take a quick free-kick, which he ended up scoring. In fact, only the Lille Captain actually left the pitch^{[citation needed]}, but only in order to formally lodge a technical complaint with the UEFA representative^{[citation needed]}, this being a common practice in French football^{[citation needed]} (although not a requirement for Champions League games where technical complaints can be lodged within 24h of the game being played).

In the aftermath of the game, Lille protested that the goal should be disallowed on the basis that referee Eric Braamhaar made a 'technical error' in allowing Giggs to take the free-kick without blowing his whistle after some Manchester United players appeared to ask the referee to ensure the Lille defence respected the ten yard rule. After reviewing the video evidence, the UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body decided to reject the protest, as there was no proof of a technical error. As a result, the body declared that the goal was perfectly valid.[2] In the same statement The Control and Disciplinary Body also stated they were to investigate possible violations of binding safety and security instructions by the host club, as well as the alleged improper conduct of both sets of supporters. Both clubs were fined as a result.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Stadium

Stade Henri Jooris (Beginnings-1974)
Stade Grimonprez Jooris (1974-2004)
Stadium Lille-Metropole (2004-present)

Since the 2004/2005 season, Lille plays at Stadium Lille-Metropole, in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, next to Lille, awaiting a new venue programmed since 1999.The justice have rejected the project of Grimonprez-Jooris II, that's why Lille Métropole Communauté urbaine have chosen to build a new venue at la Haute-Borne, the Stade Borne de l'Espoir, which is on both town of Villeneuve-d'Ascq and Lezennes. The stadium capacity would be about 50000 seats, with an opening roof.This new venue would be finished in 2010.
Without a stadium suitable for European competition, the club rents other venue for UEFA Champions League

[edit] Achievements

French Division 1 Winner: 1933 as Olympique Lillois, 1946, 1954
French Division 1 Runner-up: 1936, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 2005
French Division 2 Winner: 1964, 1974, 1978, 2000
UEFA Intertoto Cup Final Round Winner: 2004
French Cup Winner: 1946, 1947, 1948, 1953, 1955
French Cup Runner-up: 1939, 1945, 1949
Latin Cup Runner-up: 1951 (lost to AC Milan 5-0 at San Siro, having beaten Sporting Clube de Portugal 7-5 on aggregate in the Semis)

[edit] Statistics

As of 30 November, 2008

French Ligue 1 : 49 seasons, 1784 games, 640 victories, 489 draws, 655 defeats, 2,477 goals scored, 2,344 goals conceded
UEFA Champions League : 3 participations, 24 games, 7 victories, 9 draws, 8 defeats, 22 goals scored, 17 goals conceded
UEFA Cup: 3 participations, 18 games, 9 victories, 6 draws, 3 defeats, 19 goals scored, 11 goals conceded
UEFA Intertoto Cup : 2 participations, Winners in 2004, 12 games, 7 victories, 4 draws, 1 defeat, 17 goals scored, 7 goals conceded

[edit] Record season by season

See [3] (in French)

[edit] Current squad

As of September 9, 2009.^[1]

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Ludovic Butelle
2	MF	Mathieu Debuchy
3	DF	Jerry Vandam
4	MF	Florent Balmont
5	MF	Yannis Salibur
7	MF	Yohan Cabaye
9	FW	Túlio de Melo
10	MF	Ludovic Obraniak
11	FW	Pierre Aubameyang (on loan from AC Milan)
14	FW	Róbert Vittek
15	DF	Emerson Conceição
16	GK	Mickaël Landreau
17	FW	Pierre-Alain Frau
18	DF	Franck Béria

No.	Position	Player
20	FW	Larsen Touré
21	MF	Marko Marić
22	MF	Aurélien Chedjou
23	DF	Adil Rami
24	MF	Rio Mavuba (captain)
25	DF	Nicolas Plestan
26	MF	Eden Hazard
27	FW	Gervinho
28	FW	Emil Lyng
29	MF	Stéphane Dumont
30	GK	Alexandre Oukidja
35	MF	Arnaud Souquet
40	GK	Barel Mouko

On loan

No.		Position	Player
		FW	Nicolas Fauvergue (→ RC Strasbourg)
		MF	Luis Yanes (→ Cucuta Deportivo)
		FW	Cédric Baseya (→ Le Havre AC)
		DF	Jérémy Taravel (→ Zulte-Waregem)

[edit] Reserve squad

As of September 1, 2009.^[1]

No.		Position	Player
		GK	Sammy N'Djock
		GK	Thomas Lebon
		DF	Adrien Rizzi
		DF	Jonathan Rivierez
		DF	David Alcibiade
		DF	Mathieu Sauvage
		DF	Pape N'Diaye Souare
		MF	Sanaa Altama
		MF	Idrissa Gana Gueye

No.		Position	Player
		MF	Arnaud Souquet
		MF	Pierre-Baptiste Baherle
		MF	Adama Soumaoro
		MF	Ladislas Douniama
		FW	Abdoulaziz Sy
		FW	Omar Wade
		FW	Gianni Bruno
		FW	Steevy Negouai

[edit] Managerial history

Former coaches include Georges Heylens (1984-1989), a former Belgian international player, Jacques Santini (1989-92), who managed France between 2002 and 2004, Bruno Metsu (1992-93), who managed Senegal in the 2002 World Cup, Pierre Mankowski (1993-1994), who is the current assistant coach of the French national team and 2006 FIFA World Cup runner-up and Vahid Halilhodžić (1998-2002), who can be credited with the club's revival in the late nineties and early noughts.

The current coach, Rudi Garcia replaced Claude Puel, at the beginning of the 2008 season, Puel had been with Lille since 2002. Thanks to his successes with the club, Puel had been approached by FC Porto to replace José Mourinho and Lyon to replace Alain Perrin; he finally decided to join Lyon after six seasons at the club.