Lens Wins Trophee des Champions Amid Controversy Over Neutral Venue
Lens opened their season with silverware and a row. On the pitch, it was everything the club dreams of. Off it, the French authorities are under fire.
Florian Thauvin’s strike sealed a 1-0 win over PSG and delivered the Trophee des Champions to the Sang et Or. Lens dug in, defended their lead, and saw out the match despite playing for a long spell with a man disadvantage. As a pure football story, it was a gritty, emotional curtain-raiser.
But the football has been pushed to the background.
A “neutral” final in Lens’ backyard
The LFP’s decision to stage the showpiece at Stade Bollaert-Delelis has triggered a wave of criticism. The Trophee des Champions is designed as a neutral event, a showcase that does not tilt towards either side. Instead, the governing body handed Lens what looked and felt like a full-blooded home game.
Madein Foot reported that around 95 per cent of the crowd were Lens supporters. PSG, the reigning giants of French football, were allocated just 1,850 tickets in the away end. Visually, audibly, emotionally, it was Bollaert on a big domestic night, not a balanced national spectacle.
The match-day experience only underlined that impression. Lens’ usual pre-match and half-time entertainment ran as if this were a standard Ligue 1 fixture. Club colours, noise, rituals – everything that normally makes Bollaert such an intimidating venue was allowed to roll on unchanged.
For PSG, this was no neutral ground. It was enemy territory.
A stark contrast to last year
The backlash has been sharpened by memories of the 2023 edition. When PSG faced Toulouse at the Parc des Princes, the LFP went to notable lengths to neutralise the setting. The presentation was stripped back, the atmosphere carefully balanced, and a strict 50-50 ticket split ensured both sets of fans had equal presence.
Twelve months on, the approach could hardly look more different.
This latest controversy drops into an already uneasy relationship between the LFP, PSG and Lens. It comes less than a year after disputes around a postponed match between the same clubs, a saga that had already raised questions about decision-making at the top of the French game.
Adding to the sense of unease, both LFP president Vincent Labrune and PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaïfi were notably absent from Bollaert for this edition, according to the same report. Their non-appearance did nothing to cool the debate.
Governance under the spotlight
Lens will rightly revel in a statement win over Les Parisiens and a trophy to start their campaign. The players and fans experienced a night that felt perfectly in tune with their home fortress.
The governing body, though, is left with a problem that will not disappear with the final whistle.
By bypassing the principle of a neutral venue, the LFP has reopened an old argument about fairness and governance in French domestic competitions. Questions over competitive balance, integrity of showpiece events and the criteria for selecting host stadiums are back on the table.
Pressure is now building on the LFP to explain how this decision was made – and, more importantly, what kind of stage future Trophee des Champions finals are meant to be.
