Paris Saint-Germain wins Ligue 1 despite a combative Lens who deserved more

Inevitably, PSG wins another league title, but Lens came very close to achieving a huge triumph.
Text: Javier Escribano
Published 2026-05-13

Paris Saint-Germain has conquered the Ligue 1 title in a delayed match against Lens, the only team that challenged their dominance in France, and in fact led the league for quite a few weeks. Having played 33 out of 34 games, PSG wins the league with 76 points, after 24 wins, 4 draws and 5 defeats, while Lens is close with 67 points, 21 wins, 4 draws and 8 defeats.

Lens had virtually no chances of winning the league, despite it still being technically possible if they had won the match today, but Kvaratskhelia and Mbaye secured the Ligue 1 for PSG, despite suffering against a superior rival.

Lens may been defeated at the gates of a huge triumph (they only won the league once, in 1998), but is a huge achievement: a confirmed second place, after being eighth last year and seventh in 2024 (they were also runner-ups in 2023). Lens' recent history had had many up and downs: Lens was relegated to the Ligue 2 in 2007, earned promotion back to Ligue 1 in 2014 but were sent back to second division the following season due to missing funds. They only returned to the Ligue 1 in 2020, when the season was cut short due to the Covid pandemic.

The controversy behind the delayed Lens-PSG match

The title comes after a huge controversy: the French League agreed to postpone this match, originally scheduled for March, to allow PSG to better prepare for a Champions League knockout against Liverpool, which led to many criticisms for favoritising the European Champions and giving PSG preferential treatment.

PSG has won the 2025/26 Ligue 1 title, as they also did almost every year: this is their fifth consecutive title and the 12th of the last 14 editions, only missing on the 2016/17 edition, losing to Monaco, and the 2020/21 edition, losing to Lille. In 2022/23, they finished only one point ahead of Lens.

And Lens season isn't over: having secured qualification for Champions League for the fourth time in history, after 1998-99, 2002-03, 2023-24, they still have the French Cup final on May 22, hoping to win a trophy they have never won, after being finalists in 1997-98.

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