Racing Club de Lens Féminin is a French football club that competes in

Division 2 Féminine The Division 2 Féminine, shortened as D2 Féminine, is the second division of women's football in France. Run by the French Football Federation The French Football Federation ( FFF; french: Fédération Française de Football) is the governi ...

Group A, and has previously competed in

Division 1 Féminine The Division 1 Féminine, shortened as D1 Féminine or D1F, and currently known as D1 Arkema for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in France. Run by the French Football Federation, the league is contested by twelv ...

. The club was founded in 2001 as Arras Football Association, and was renamed Arras Football Club Féminin in 2011. In 2020, the club became the women's department of

Racing Club de Lens Racing Club de Lens (, commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply Lens) is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the Pas-de-Calais department. Its nickname, ''les sang et or'' (''the blood and gold''), com ...

History

Arras Football Club Féminin was founded in 2001, as the women's department of

Arras FA Arras Football Association is a French association football team founded in 1901. It is based in Arras, France and plays in the Régional 1, the sixth tier in the French football league system. It plays at the Degouve-Brabant Stadium in Arras. F ...

. In 2002, Arras won their regional championship, and were promoted to . In 2009–10, Arras won the Division 3 Group C title, and were promoted to

. In 2011, the club renamed itself Arras Football Club Féminin (Arras FCF), after becoming a separate team from Arras FA. In the season, Arras FCF won promotion to the

. They also reached the semi-finals of the

2011–12 Coupe de France Féminine The 2011–12 Coupe de France Féminine was the 11th edition of the French cup competition for women. This was the inaugural edition of the competition under the name ''Coupe de France Féminine'', as for the past decade, it was played under the n ...

, the team's best performance in the competition. Arras were later relegated from Division 1 Féminine in the 2014–15 season. They finished second in Division 2 Féminine in , third in , sixth in , and eighth in . Arras finished ninth in the , before the season was halted due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. In 2019, a deal between Arras and

was agreed to allow Arras to train once a week at Lens' stadium. In 2020, the club was taken over by Racing Club de Lens, in a merger/adoption deal. The team took the Lens name, and kept the badge of Arras on player jerseys alongside the Lens badge. The team now trains most of the time at La Gaillette, although sometimes at Arras, and matches are played in both locations. As part of the move,

Sarah M'Barek Sarah M'Barek (born 13 October 1977) is a French Women's association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. She played as a midfielder and has represented the France women's national football team, France ...

was announced as the team's new manager. Lens announced that most of the Arras players would be kept after the takeover, and the club made eight signings in the summer 2020 transfer window. Prior to the deal, Lens were one of six professional men's clubs without a women's team.

First-team squad

References

External links

Official website

Footo Feminin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lens Fem Women's football clubs in France Association football clubs established in 2001 2001 establishments in France Sport in Pas-de-Calais RC Lens Arras Football clubs in Hauts-de-France