Within four days, Lens managed to set up a replacement match.
“We would have played just once over a month. In terms of the team’s performance and fitness, organising a fixture became a necessity,” the club executive highlights.
Proceeds from the match will go to Reporters Without Borders as the club lends its support to Christophe Gleizes, the French football journalist who is currently imprisoned in Algeria.
Gleizes was handed a seven-year sentence in December for “glorifying terrorism” after travelling to the country to write about football club JS Kabylie. The sentence was roundly condemned in France, not least in football circles.
“We were one of the first clubs that signed the petition calling for his release,” adds Parrot, a graduate of the same Parisian institute as Gleizes, who first joined Lens as part of the communications team.