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Loïs Openda: The season that announced a star

Four years after bursting onto the scene with RC Lens, Loïs Openda is preparing to return to Ligue 1 McDonald’s with Olympique Lyonnais. We look back at the Belgian striker’s remarkable 2022/23 campaign in northern France.
G.BOXALL
Published on 07/31/2026 at 17:43
2-minute read
Four years after bursting onto the scene with RC Lens, Loïs Openda is preparing to return to Ligue 1 McDonald’s with Olympique Lyonnais. We look back at the Belgian striker’s remarkable 2022/23 campaign in northern France.

The Belgium international joined RC Lens in the summer of 2022, arriving from Club Brugge after two productive loan spells with Vitesse Arnhem in the Netherlands. Tasked with replacing Arnaud Kalimuendo at the point of Franck Haise’s attack, Openda quickly proved he was more than ready for the challenge.

His pace, movement and ability to attack space made him a perfect fit for an energetic Lens side. Openda scored 21 league goals during the 2022/23 season, averaging one every 120 minutes, as Les Sang et Or produced one of the most memorable campaigns in the club’s modern history.

Lens finished second in the table, just one point behind champions Paris Saint-Germain, while Openda ended the season as Ligue 1’s fourth-highest scorer.

A historic campaign in Lens colours

Openda’s tally also carried particular significance for the club. He became the first Lens player to score more than 20 goals in a top-flight campaign since Georges Lech achieved the feat during the 1966/67 season.

There were numerous memorable moments along the way, but few could match his extraordinary performance away to Clermont in March 2023.

Openda scored a hat-trick in the space of just four minutes and 30 seconds during Lens’ 4-0 victory at the Stade Gabriel-Montpied. It was the fastest Ligue 1 McDonald’s hat-trick recorded in the previous 50 years, beating the mark set by Lille striker Matt Moussilou against Istres in April 2005 by four seconds.

The Belgian continued to deliver as the pressure increased during the closing weeks of the campaign. His goals helped Lens secure Champions League qualification for the first time in more than two decades and complete a season that supporters will remember for years to come.

Openda left Lens for RB Leipzig at the end of that campaign, but his impact in France had already been firmly established.

Now, four years after his first appearance in Ligue 1 McDonald’s, the striker is set to return to the championship in the colours of Olympique Lyonnais.

The best moments from Loïs Openda’s unforgettable season with RC Lens are available to watch on the Ligue 1 Vintage channel.

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