Editing RC Lens (section)

===The good years and the fall===
However, better days arrived in 1960 after the town council took interest in Racing Club de Lens. Lens' mayor, [[André Delelis]], was a long-term supporter and recognized the importance of the club's success to the overall morale of the city. With the future president, Jean Bondoux, the mayor brought together volunteers and subscriptions to help the club survive. Moreover, the city recovered ownership of the stadium from the closing mine industry.

The following twenty years saw a slow but steady improvement in the club's fortunes. In 1972, Lens reached the semi-finals of the Coupe de France, and the arrival of two Polish players helped the club win promotion to the first division. In 1975, Lens once again reached the final of the Coupe de France against the powerful [[AS Saint-Étienne|Saint-Étienne]], but lost the game 0–2.

As finalist of the Coupe de France, Lens had the opportunity to participate in its first [[UEFA Cup Winners' Cup]], but the team was knocked out quickly by the Dutch club [[ADO Den Haag]].[[File:Stade Felix-Bollaert.jpg|250px|thumb|[[Stade Félix Bollaert]]]]

Lens' steady progress continued, and after finishing second in the league behind [[FC Nantes|Nantes]], they managed to qualify to the [[UEFA Europa League|UEFA Cup]]. They knocked out Swedish club [[Malmö FF]], and more impressively, the strong Italian club [[S.S. Lazio|Lazio]]. After an away defeat (2–0), they won 6–0 at the [[Stade Bollaert-Delelis]] after extra-time. Unfortunately, after this rare international exploit for a French club, they were then eliminated by [[East German]] side [[1. FC Magdeburg]]. Worse still, the club went back to the second division in 1978.

The step backwards was very brief and immediate promotion back to the French elite level was achieved in 1979 with [[Roger Lemerre]] as head coach. During the 1980s, [[Gérard Houllier]] and [[Joachim Marx]] succeeded him. These were great gains to the team, even though the club lost important players such as [[Didier Sénac]], [[Gaëtan Huard]] and [[Philippe Vercruysse]].