Odsonne Edouard is Lens’ leading scorer this season with 13 goals across all competitions
Lens had been preparing for what could have been a decisive Ligue 1 title clash.
However, with Paris St-Germain excused from domestic duty due to their Champions League schedule, the Sang et Or (Blood and Gold) will instead host third-tier side Rouen in a friendly on Saturday afternoon.
While French league authorities have previously accommodated other European campaigns, PSG’s request drew strong objections from Lens.
Before the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) met, Lens issued a statement warning that the top flight could become “a variable to be adjusted at the whim of the European imperatives of certain clubs.”
“Our intention wasn’t to pick a fight with PSG,” Benjamin Parrot, the club’s general director, tells BBC Sport. “We wanted the schedule to be maintained as it was set out for teams like us, who have a budget and have built a squad around playing in the league and the Coupe de France.”
Parrot points out that the league council’s decision means Coupe de France semi-finalists Lens will close their league campaign with three matches in one week.
“It went to a vote and the decision was unanimous, which means that our arguments either didn’t get through or weren’t considered. Given that outcome, we’ll save our energy and focus on the rest of the season,” Parrot says.
Within four days, Lens managed to arrange a replacement fixture.
“We would have played just once over a month. In terms of the team’s performance and fitness, organising a fixture became a necessity,” the club executive highlights.
Proceeds from the match will go to Reporters Without Borders as the club supports Christophe Gleizes, a French football journalist currently imprisoned in Algeria.
Gleizes was sentenced to seven years in December for “glorifying terrorism” after traveling to Algeria to write about football club JS Kabylie. The sentence was widely condemned in France, particularly in football circles.
“We were one of the first clubs that signed the petition calling for his release,” adds Parrot, a graduate of the same Parisian institute as Gleizes, who initially joined Lens in the communications team.
Parrot, 40, is now one of three individuals overseeing day-to-day club operations, along with sporting director Jean-Louis Leca and head coach Pierre Sage. Like former goalkeeper Leca, Parrot was promoted to the role in May of last year.
Boss Pierre Sage joined Lens last summer. They currently sit second in Ligue 1, four points behind PSG.
Sage, who burst onto the top-flight scene two seasons ago by leading Lyon’s remarkable recovery from the relegation zone to European football, arrived a few months later.
“The three of us have a weekly meeting,” Parrot explains. “Pierre defines the profiles he needs, and Jean-Louis chooses the players along with the scouting team.”
Lens are, in the general director’s words, one of the “challenger clubs,” operating with only the 10th-highest wage bill in the league.
After several spells in the second division, the 1998 league champions returned to the forefront of French football three years ago when they pushed PSG to within one point in the title race.
Despite recent success, budget constraints remain, especially in the wake of successive broadcast deal collapses that have financially hindered French football.
“The club’s strategy is to keep costs stable, because we know that revenue will keep going down,” Parrot says, adding that much of the club’s revenue currently relies on uncovering talent in the academy and reselling them.
In December, Lens became only the third Ligue 1 team to own their home stadium, purchasing the pr
