French club RC Lens, owned and led by French-Armenian businessman Joseph Oughourlian, won the Trophée des Champions on Sunday for the first time in the club’s history, beating Paris Saint-Germain 1:0 at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis in Lens, reports Zartonk Sports. The victory hands Lens a second major trophy in a single year, following the Coupe de France they won in May.
Florian Thauvin settled it in the 32nd minute, arriving at the far post to finish after Matthieu Udol’s delivery from the left. It came on Thauvin’s debut as Lens captain and on the debut of new head coach Dino Toppmöller, who took charge after Pierre Sage left for Crystal Palace, and it proved enough to see off a PSG side that had lifted the UEFA Super Cup against Aston Villa just four days earlier.
In the 39th minute, defender Kyllian Antonio was sent off for a studs-up challenge, leaving the hosts to play more than 50 minutes a man down. PSG dominated possession and pressed for an equalizer until the final whistle, but goalkeeper Robin Risser and a disciplined Lens defense held firm. Paris were reduced to ten men themselves late on when Nuno Mendes was dismissed. Zinedine Zidane, newly appointed head coach of the French national team, watched the upset from the stands.
The result ended PSG’s grip on a competition they had won four years running and 14 times in total. The Trophée des Champions is contested each year between the winners of Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France, and Lens qualified as cup holders. They had reached the fixture only once before, in 1998, when they lost to PSG as reigning French champions. Nearly three decades later, in the club’s 120th-anniversary year, they took their revenge.
Oughourlian, the grandson of a survivor of the Armenian Genocide, acquired RC Lens in 2016 and became president in 2018, when the club was a debt-laden second-division side. He restored its finances and rebuilt it into a top-flight side, returning Lens to the Champions League in 2023 after a 20-year absence and guiding the club to a second-place finish in Ligue 1 last season. Away from football, he founded the investment fund Amber Capital in 2005 and chairs the Spanish media group PRISA and the newspaper El País.
Founded in 1906 in the mining region of northern France, Lens are known for their red-and-gold colors and passionate support. Under Oughourlian, the club has reestablished itself among the country’s leading sides.
His Armenian roots run directly to the genocide, and he has carried that heritage forward as one of the most senior figures in the Armenian General Benevolent Union, the world’s largest Armenian nonprofit. He was elected to its Central Board of Directors, served as a vice president, and today sits on its Council of Trustees alongside figures such as former Armenian president Armen Sarkissian. He remains an active investor and philanthropist in Armenia.
That commitment reaches the Armenian game directly. Sardarapat FC, recently promoted to the Armenian Premier League, has a partnership with RC Lens that gives the Armenian club access to the French side’s training methods and player development. Oughourlian has supported Sardarapat since its founding.
Lens open their Ligue 1 season at home to Auxerre on August 22 and will also compete in the Champions League this season.
