Official LOSC Lille Métropole Thread : Allez Les Dogues !!

Lille Olympique Sporting
Club Lille Métropole, founded 1944



History

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).
The merger gave birth to the Lille Olympique Sporting Club, aka LOSC, with the 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.
After some glorious years in the aftermath of WWII with 2 leagues titles, 4 runner-up spots ans 5 national cups, Lille have often lived in the shadow 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.
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 AS Monaco, Olympique 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 FK 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 AC 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 Utd. 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 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, but only in order to formally lodge a technical complaint with the UEFA representative, this being a common practice in French football (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 Utd 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. 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.


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)


All-Time Stats

Ligue 1 * Ligue 2 **
Seasons 10 2
Games : 1730 118
Wins : 621 61
Draws : 464 29
Losses : 645 28
Goals for 2409 165
Goals against 2295 104


Rivals

RC Lens


Old Stadium: Stade Grimonprez-Jooris

Stade Grimonprez-Jooris is a multi-use stadium in Lille, France. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium is able to hold 21,180 people and was built in 1975. It was the home of Lille OSC until 2004 when they moved to Stadium Lille-Metropole. The original plan was the Grimonprez Jooris was to be redeveloped to a 32,000 seat stadium. However, it was decided this wouldn't be the best solution.



Current Stadium: Stade Nord Lille-Metropole

Stade Lille-Metropole is a multi-use stadium in Villeneuve d'Ascq, France. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the temporary home stadium of Lille OSC while Stade Borne de l'Espoir is being built. The stadium is able to hold 18,185 people and was built in 1976. Previously, the club played in Stade Grimonprez Jooris.



New Stadium: Stade Borne de l'Espoir

Stade Borne de l'Espoir is a multi-use stadium near Lille, France, that is currently being planned. Once completed in 2010, it will be used mostly for football matches and will host the home matches of Lille OSC. The stadium will have a capacity of 50,000 people. It replaces their current temporary stadium Stadium Lille-Metropole and their previous permanent stadium Stade Grimonprez Jooris. Borne de l'Espoir refers to the plot of land which is currently being looked at. On March 18, 2006, Lille officials gave preliminary approval of the project.




Fans



Fan clubs: Rijsel Spirit, Dogues Virage Est


Current Squad


Goalkeepers
30 Pichon Laurent 1.86 75 08/03/1981
16 Malicki Grégory 1.87 85 23/11/1973
1 Sylva Tony 1.85 77 17/05/1975

Defenders
25 Plestan Nicolas 1.84 72 02/06/1981
26 Lichtsteiner Stefan 1.82 72 16/01/1984
20 Tafforeau Grégory 1.75 68 29/09/1976
19 Franquart Peter 1.82 77 04/01/1985
## Taravel Jérémy 1.88 75 17/04/1987
15 Emerson Da conceicao 0.00 0 23/02/1986
33 Rami Adil 1.89 82 27/12/1985
## Benzerga Omar - - 06/01/1990
## Béria Franck 1.80 72 23/05/1983

Midfielders
7 Cabaye Yohan 1.75 69 14/01/1986
2 Debuchy Mathieu 1.83 72 28/07/1985
17 Makoun Jean II 1.72 65 29/05/1983
## Maric Marko 1.89 ?? 25/04/1983
10 Obraniak Ludovic 1.71 68 10/11/1984
8 Bastos Michel 1.79 71 02/08/1983
29 Dumont Stéphane 1.82 76 06/12/1982
## Ewane Henri 1.70 63 19/01/1986
## Chedjou Aurélien 1.84 74 20/06/1985
## Yanes Padilla Luis Alfredo 1.79 75 29/10/1982
## Hazard Eden 07/01/1991

Attackers
27 Mirallas Kévin 1.82 75 05/10/1987
13 Fauvergue Nicolas 1.91 86 13/10/1984
11 Youla Souleymane 1.81 77 29/11/1981
35 Makiese Chris Kamulette 1.84 74 14/10/1987

07/08 Transfers

Arrivals:

- Béria (Metz)
- Maric (Egaleo FC Athènes)
- Yanes (Santa Fé) 1.2 M €

- Hazard (Contrat pro)
- Benzerga (Contrat pro)
- Lebbihi (Contrat pro)
- Rami (Contrat pro)
- Ewane (Contrat pro)
- Chedjou (Contrat pro)
- Makiese (Contrat pro)
- Taravel (Contrat pro)


Departures:

- Audel (Valenciennes)
- Bodmer (Lyon)
- Chalmé (Bordeaux)
- Gygax (Metz)
- A.Keita (Lyon)
- Le Postollec (FC Brussels)
-Odemwingie (Lokomotiv Moskva)

- Owona (FC Brussels)
- M.Robail (Dijon)
- Schmitz (p.Birmingham)
- Tavlaridis (Saint-Etienne)
- Vitakic (fc - Grenoble)
- Zywiecki (Dijon)


L1 Fixtures

04/08/2007 Lille Lorient
11/08/2007 Metz Lille
15/08/2007 Lille Sochaux
18/08/2007 Le Mans Lille
25/08/2007 Paris SG Lille
29/08/2007 Lille Monaco
01/09/2007 Rennes Lille
15/09/2007 Lille Bordeaux
22/09/2007 Lyon Lille
06/10/2007 Lille Valenciennes
20/10/2007 Caen Lille
27/10/2007 Lille Strasbourg
03/11/2007 Auxerre Lille
10/11/2007 Lille Nice
24/11/2007 Nancy Lille
01/12/2007 Lille Marseille
08/12/2007 Toulouse Lille
15/12/2007 Lille Saint Etienne
22/12/2007 Lens Lille
12/01/2008 Lille Metz
19/01/2008 Sochaux Lille
23/01/2008 Lille Le Mans
26/01/2008 Lille Paris SG
09/02/2008 Monaco Lille
16/02/2008 Lille Rennes
23/02/2008 Bordeaux Lille
01/03/2008 Lille Lyon
08/03/2008 Valenciennes Lille
15/03/2008 Lille Caen
22/03/2008 Strasbourg Lille
30/03/2008 Lille Auxerre
05/04/2008 Nice Lille
12/04/2008 Lille Nancy
19/04/2008 Marseille Lille
26/04/2008 Lille Toulouse
03/05/2008 Saint Etienne Lille
10/05/2008 Lille Lens
17/05/2008 Lorient Lille

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