page_title: Lille OSC
section_title: 2000–present: A steady climb to the top
hierarchical_section_title: Lille OSC / History / 2000–present: A steady climb to the top
caption_attribution_description: The team presents the French Cup to the fans with Captain Rio Mavuba.
context_page_description: Lille Olympique Sporting Club, commonly called LOSC, also referred to as LOSC Lille, Lille OSC or simply Lille, is a French professional association football club based in Lille in Hauts-de-France. The club was founded in 1944 as a result of a merger and plays in Ligue 1, the first division of French football. Lille has played its home matches since 2012 at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in nearby Villeneuve d'Ascq, which replaced the club's previous home of Stade Lille-Metropole in the same community.
  Lille was founded as a result of a merger between Olympique Lillois and SC Fives. Both clubs were founding members of the French Division 1 and Lillois was the league's inaugural champions. Under the Lille emblem, the club has won three league titles and six Coupe de France titles. Lille's most successful period was the decade from 1946 to 1956 when the team was led by managers George Berry and André Cheuva.
  Lille has a long-standing rivalry with nearby club RC Lens, with whom they contest the Derby du Nord. The club is owned and presided over by Gérard Lopez, an entrepreneur-investor and an active Luxembourgish-Spanish businessman who invests in the sports industry.
context_section_description: In just its first season back in the top flight 2000–01 French Division 1, Lille qualified for Europe for the first time in the club's history, booking its place in the 2001–02 Champions League. On the back of the club's new status, Lille entered into a decisive new era under the guidance of chairman and chief executive officer Michel Seydoux and coach Claude Puel. The club left the historical Stade Grimonprez-Jooris to join the Stadium Lille Métropole and became a regular on the European scene. Amongst its most emphatic results was the 1–0 victory over Manchester United at the Stade de France in 2005, the 2–0 triumph over Milan in San Siro in 2006 and the 1–0 home win over Liverpool in 2010. A steady development off the pitch (inauguration of the Domaine de Luchin training complex in 2007, opening of the Grand Stade in 2012), coupled with the sporting progression under the expert hand of coach Rudi Garcia, took Lille back to the summit of the French game with the League and Cup double in 2011 (56 years after the club's last trophy). In 2012, LOSC confirmed its place at the top table of the domestic game with another qualification for Europe's most prestigious club competition, the Champions League in 2012–13. With the club finishing just outside the UCL places that season, Garcia left to join Roma, while former Montpellier coach René Girard was appointed the new Lille manager. After two years in charge of the club, Girard left his role as the head coach by mutual consent. He was joined by assistants Gerard Bernadet and Nicolas Girard in making the exit. In May 2015, the Ivory Coast national team head coach Hervé Renard was appointed as the new manager.  On 11 November 2015, Renard was terminated as manager and was replaced by Frederic Antonetti. On 23 November 2016, a year after being appointed, Lille terminated Antonetti's contract with the club lying second last in the table. In March 2017, Lille appointed Marcelo Bielsa as new manager of the club. In November 2017, Bielsa was suspended by Lille following an unauthorized trip to Chile with the club lying second from bottom on the table again and only managing 3 wins from the first 14 games of the season.
  On 23 December 2017, Bielsa was terminated by Lille and replaced with former Saint-Etienne manager Christophe Galtier. After a difficult 2017–2018 season, Lille managed to avoid relegation to Ligue 2 by defeating Toulouse 3–2 in the second last game of the campaign.
  In the 2018–19 Ligue 1 season, Lille secured the second place to qualify for the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League group stage, they returned to the competition after a seven-year absence.
caption: Moussa Sow and Gervinho celebrate winning the double in 2011.
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