Editing RC Lens (section)

===Martel's takeover===
In August 1988 [[Gervais Martel]], a wealthy local businessman, bought control of the club, with the help of Serge Doré. During the same year, [[Arnaud Dos Santos]] was named head coach of the club, and led the club back to the first division in 1991.

In 1993 and 1994, Lens' strongest team to that date were highly competitive at the top of the league, and the team qualified for the UEFA Cup twice in a row. Lens also reached the semi-final of the Coupe de France after knocking out [[Paris Saint-Germain F.C.|Paris Saint-Germain]] at the [[Parc des Princes]], although the team lost to [[Montpellier HSC|Montpellier]].

In [[1997–98 RC Lens season|1998]], ''les Sang et Or'' wrote the best page of their history under [[Daniel Leclercq]] ("the Druid"): French champions, [[Coupe de la Ligue]] semi-finalists and finalists of the Coupe de France (against PSG, a 2–1 defeat). Like a symbol, it is a player who started his career in Lens, [[Yohan Lachor]], who scored the goal in [[AJ Auxerre|Auxerre]] giving Lens the title in front of [[FC Metz|Metz]]. Under the "Druid", Lens won its second major title in 1999 with the Coupe de la Ligue against Metz, with a goal from [[Daniel Moreira]]. That year, in the [[UEFA Champions League]], Lens also became the only club to have beaten English team [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]] at the famous [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley Stadium]] (1–0, with a goal from [[Mickaël Debève]]), although they were knocked out on aggregate score over two matches.

During the next season, Leclercq was fired, but Lens nonetheless did well to reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. François Brisson's men were eventually eliminated by Arsenal, after they won against [[1. FC Kaiserslautern]] (a 4–1 win in Germany), [[Atlético Madrid]] and [[Celta de Vigo]].

In the 2001–02 season, [[Joël Muller]] was named head coach. Lens finished second that season and qualified for its second Champions League campaign. The club, however, finished in eighth for the next two years. Muller was replaced during his fourth season by [[Francis Gillot]], who managed to qualify Lens for the [[UEFA Intertoto Cup]], which Lens won, ensuring qualification for the UEFA Cup.

During the [[2006–07 Ligue 1|2006–07 season]], the ''Sang et Or'' finished the first part of the season in second, behind [[Olympique Lyonnais|Lyon]]. But due to a chaotic second half, however, they only finished fifth. A few days later, Francis Gillot resigned.

On 5 June 2007, [[Guy Roux]] made his comeback, although it only lasted three months: He resigned after a 2–1 defeat at [[RC Strasbourg Alsace|Strasbourg]]. [[Jean-Pierre Papin]] took over, but Lens could not make up any ground throughout the season, finishing 18th, two points behind [[Toulouse FC|Toulouse]], resulting in relegation to Ligue 2 for the next season. Lens finished the season with just 40 points, winning only 9 times in 38 matches.

After a slow start in their only year in [[2008–09 Ligue 2|Ligue 2]], they managed to finish as leaders during the first half of the season. Earning 13 out of 15 points in their first five games of the second half, everything looked set for a quick return to the first league. After only taking five points of the next six games, however, the promotion race was open again, although Lens recovered and became champions, securing promotion to Ligue 1 for [[2009–10 Ligue 1|2009–10]]. After the [[2010–11 Ligue 1|2010–11 season]], however, they again dropped to Ligue 2.

On 16 May 2014, Lens sealed promotion back to Ligue 1 on the final day of the [[2013–14 Ligue 2|season]] following a 2–0 win at [[CA Bastia|Bastia]]. On 27 June, however, the League's National Directorate of Management Control (DNCG) blocked Lens' promotion to the top flight due to irregularities in the club's proposed budget for its next season. The issue was a €10 million payment due from major shareholder [[Hafiz Mammadov]] that was missing from the accounts. Lens president [[Gervais Martel]] claimed a public holiday in Mammadov's native Azerbaijan had resulted in the delay and said the club would appeal. On 15 July, however, their promotion was in jeopardy after an appeal commission upheld their appeal since the missing funds still had not yet arrived in the club's accounts. Lens immediately declared their intention to appeal to the [[French National Olympic and Sports Committee|French Olympic Committee (CNOSF)]], which has the power to overrule the DNCG. On 25 July, the CNSOF recommended Lens should be allowed to play in Ligue 1. Because the Stade Bollaert-Delelis was being renovated for [[UEFA Euro 2016]], Lens played their home matches for the [[2014–15 Ligue 1]] season at the [[Stade de la Licorne]], home of [[Amiens SC|Amiens]], and at the [[Stade de France]] in [[Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis|Saint-Denis]].

It was announced on 29 January 2015 that Lens' promotion from Ligue 2 at the end of the 2013–14 season has been ruled invalid, and will thus be automatically relegated to Ligue 2 for the [[2015–16 Ligue 2|2015–16 season]], regardless of where the team places. Thus, in August 2015 Lens returned to Ligue 2, albeit playing at the renovated Stade Bollaert-Delelis. They drew an average home attendance of 28,996 in the 2016–17 season, the highest in Ligue 2 but missed promotion to the Ligue 1 during a tumultuous last day of the season.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ligue 2 2016/2017 – Attendance |url=http://www.worldfootball.net/attendance/fra-ligue-2-2016-2017/1/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180211185930/http://www.worldfootball.net/attendance/fra-ligue-2-2016-2017/1/ |archive-date=11 February 2018 |access-date=2 May 2018 |website=worldfootball.net}}</ref>