Why the Lille-Lens derby is now being played in London

Joseph Oughourlian (left) chairs RC Lens.

Gérard Lopez (right) is the boss of Losc -

• Joseph Oughourlian and Gérard Lopez know each other well.

  Both live in London and both come from finance.

• Since the arrival, the two men, who have invested several tens of millions of euros in the two clubs, have taken Losc and RC Lens to another level.

• A financial duel which has nothing to do with the Martel / Seydoux match which punctuated the regional rivalry for fifteen years.

By Eurostar, you can get there in 1h30 from Lille, a little more if you come from Lens.

If London is not based in Hauts-de-France, the English capital has nevertheless become the center of the Northern Derby.

Because it is in the City, famous London business district, that the two new presidents of the eternal northern rivals work.

On the one hand, Gérard Lopez, 48-year-old Spanish-Luxembourgish businessmen and president of Losc since 2017. On the other Joseph Oughourlian, born in Paris in 1972, boss of the investment fund Amber Capital and president of RC Lens since 2018.

"In business, apart from football, we appreciate each other"

Two men who are preparing to experience their first Northern derby this Sunday (9 pm) without really animosity.

Because the two financiers know each other very well, as Gérard Lopez recently recognized.

"

For business, we're both based in London, it's a microcosm, so we bump into each other on a regular basis.

In business, outside of football, we appreciate each other.

For football, we will have to learn to hate each other (

), ”the Lille president told

.

It is with this similar profile of international businessmen that we realize that Lille and Lens have changed scale economically.

“It is the advent of the financialization of football.

It started in the 1990s with the increase in the amounts at stake in French and international football.

Until recently, we had retained club shareholders or presidents with strong local roots.

In recent years, we have seen shareholders arrive with very financial profiles.

It is not surprising to find club presidents from this world.

The first having been Loïc Féry in Lorient ”, explains Christophe Lepetit, sports economist.

"They are less attached to the club than someone from the local fabric"

A financial duel which has nothing to do with the Martel / Seydoux match which punctuated the regional rivalry for fifteen years.

“Gervais was the child of the settlements and I was the Parisian titi.

Today, the two presidents are two citizens of the world, ”summarizes Michel Seydoux, boss of Losc from 2002 to 2017.

Two citizens of the world with no real local roots.

So, can you be really attached to your club being based in London most of the time?

" Yes.

Even if he is not from the area, Joseph [Oughourlian] is very involved in the club.

He is very attentive, very stressed, passionate and excited about his club ", assures Gervais Martel, president of RC Lens from 1988 to 2018." Gérard [Lopez] is a great football fan who understands the club very well.

I don't have the impression that he is overplaying.

He loves his club and he defends it tremendously well, ”assures Michel Seydoux for his part.

Declarations of love swept away by Christophe Lepetit.

“The two presidents tell you that they are very involved but it still takes a little affect.

These people are in finance, they are pragmatists and they are less attached to the club than someone from the local fabric.

After Which is not necessarily a bad thing because living things in a too passionate way can lead to a dead end ”, estimates the economist.

When Lopez borrows, Oughourlian invests his personal fortune

Still, Lopez and Oughourlian are still investing a lot of money in their new hobby.

But not necessarily in the same way.

Because between Lille fully integrated into the international transfer market and Lens, which only dates back to Ligue 2, investments are not on the same scale as the journalist Benoît Dequevauviller tells us.

“Joseph Oughourlian once said to me with a smile: 'Yes, I know Gérard Lopez well but we don't play in the same court”.

Oughourlian, who has already invested 45 million euros, is a City financier with the management of a good father at RC Lens.

Gérard Lopez has another technique: he arrives with 200 million loans and bim, he brings Bielsa back, bim he buys young players at 10-15 million to sell them better and he crosses his fingers to make it last 4-5 years and that he is able to reimburse ”, considers the author of 

a book devoted to RC Lens.

The men pass, the institution remains

With a Lopez who borrows a lot from investment funds and an Oughourlian who invests his personal wealth, the way to go is different.

But in the end the two clubs seem to find their way there.

“It's hard to say if it's a good thing or a bad thing.

The good thing is if there are investments that allow the club to structure itself and progress in all areas.

It's a bad thing if there is only a purely speculative aspect to the detriment of the club's long-term interests.

For the moment, I do not have the impression that the two clubs have to complain about their chairman shareholders, ”said Christophe Lepetit.

It remains to be seen how long the two men will stay in Lens and Lille.

"Gone are the days when presidents like Gervais Martel could stay 30 years in the same club," says Benoît Dequevauviller.

“The day they have covered the issue or reached the end of their financial or personal investment, they will leave.

But it will not necessarily be with losses and noise, ”reassures Lepetit.

Our Ligue 1 file

“As long as the Losc and RC Lens institutions are preserved, men do not necessarily have importance, loose Michel Seydoux for his part.

An institution belongs to everyone.

It is entrusted for a time to one or two characters who will advance the story.

If the shareholders of the two clubs are today in London, the history of.

Losc and RC Lens will necessarily continue to write in the region.

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