Led by an offensive triplet Moussa Sow, Gervinho, Eden Hazard, Lille easily dominated the championship, finishing eight points ahead of their runner-up, Olympique de Marseille.
The Senegalese striker even finished top scorer of the season (26 goals), while the Belgian was named best player of the season.
Behind this trio, three solid and reliable midfielders.
Yohan Cabaye, Ludovic Obraniak and Rio Mavuba in low point ensured the stability of the northerner team.
The typical LOSC rearguard consisted of Mathieu Debuchy, Adil Rami, Aurélien Chedjou and Franck Béria.
Finally, Mickaël Landreau kept the goals of Lille.
Eden Hazard (30 years old):
Obviously, the Belgian is one of the first names that emerges when we talk about the coronation of Lille in 2011. Eden Hazard remains an additional season in the North after his title.
He flew to the other side of the Channel in 2012 to wear the Chelsea colors.
After a sublime 2018 World Cup, he signed in the summer of 2019 for Real Madrid, becoming the most expensive player in the history of the Merengue.
Unfortunately for him, his adventure in Spain has not yet been a real success.
Between injuries, controversies, and poor lifestyle, the Red Devil does not shine as much as he would have hoped.
Moussa Sow (35 years old):
Like his Belgian teammate, Moussa Sow remains one more season in Lille before taking off.
It crosses the Mediterranean to reach Istanbul and the Fenerbahce.
After a title of champion of Turkey in 2014, he always goes further to the East by signing in Al-Ahli, in the United Arab Emirates.
After another title in a new country, he returns to Turkey at Ümraniyespor, where he now plays in the second division.
Gervinho (33 years old):
Unlike his fellow attackers, the Ivorian does not wait a year before leaving the Mastiffs.
Gervinho flew to Arsenal in 2011 where he played 63 matches in two seasons but won nothing.
He then joined another capital by signing to AS Rome.
After two and a half seasons, he flew to China and Hebei China Fortune.
He returned to Italy in 2018, to Parma, where he has been playing ever since.
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Ludovic Obraniak (36 years old):
The Polish international also left Lille in 2012 to wear the colors of the Girondins de Bordeaux for two years.
In 2014, he emigrated to Germany near Werder Bremen where he had little playing time. He spent half a season in Turkey before trying the experience in Israel at Maccabi Haifa.
Finally, he ended his career in France, at AJ Auxerre in Ligue 2. He therefore hung up his crampons in 2018 and has since converted into a career as a television columnist, in particular on the L'Equipe channel.
Yohan Cabaye (35 years old):
Like Gervinho, he flew to England in 2011. Direction Newcastle where he played until winter 2014. During the January transfer window he joined PSG.
A return to France which did not mark the spirits since it returned across the Channel only a year and a half later.
This time it is in London that he settles since he wears the colors of Crystal Palace until 2018. He then flies to Dubai where he evolves only six months before returning to France for a last challenge to Saint Etienne.
Without a club since the summer of 2020, he announces the end of his career last February.
Rio Mavuba (37 years old):
Captain of this Lille team, Rio Mavuba continued in the North until 2017. The former Bordelais participated in the World Cup in 2014 with the Blues.
After nine years at the club, he signed a season at Sparta Prague in the Czech Republic in 2017. After a complicated season, he ended his career in September 2018. He has since been a consultant for the RMC Sport channel and is also part of the staff of the reserve team of the Girondins de Bordeaux.
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Mathieu Debuchy (35 years old):
In January 2013, he left Lille after ten years at the club to join his best friend, Yohan Cabaye, in Newcastle.
In July 2014, after good performances with the Magpies, they signed with the Gunners of Arsenal.
His London adventure is chaotic since he only played 30 matches in four years at the club.
Even if he was loaned to Bordeaux in the winter of 2016, his playing time hardly increased.
It was when he joined Saint-Etienne in 2018 that he regained a starting position.
With the Greens, there are 96 meetings.
Adil Rami (35 years old):
The 2018 world champion has a career to make the Routard guide pale.
He left Lille directly after the coronation for Spain and Valencia.
In 2014, he left for AC Milan, where he played for a year and a half.
He returned to the Iberian Peninsula in 2015 to wear the colors of Sevilla FC.
In 2017, he joined OM where he played in a final of the Europa League in 2018. After a chaotic end in Marseille, he joined Fenerbahce, where he played only seven small matches.
In February 2020 he joined FK Sochi in Russia where he does not play the slightest meeting.
Currently, he plays in Portugal with the shirt of Boavista.
He regularly works on RMC.
Aurélien Chedjou (35 years old):
A bit like Moussa Sow, the Cameroonian flourished in Turkey.
He left LOSC in 2013 for Galatasaray with whom he will be champion in 2015. In 2017, he signed with another Istanbul club, in Basaksehir.
But the experience is inconclusive and after a loan to Bursaspor, he returns to Hauts-de France in 2019, to Amiens, for a season.
Since 2020, he has been wearing the Adana Demirspor jersey, in the second division, where he only played one match.
Franck Béria (37 years old):
The only one who ended his career in Lille.
The left side does not leave LOSC after the 2011 title and retires there in 2017. He has been the deputy director of the Lille club ever since.
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Mickaël Landreau (41 years old):
One year after his title of champion, the porter tries one last adventure in Bastia.
In Corsica, he beats the record for matches played in the first division, so far held by Jean-Luc Ettori.
Mickaël Landreau therefore played 618 league games.
He retired in 2014. Between 2017 and 2019 he was the coach of FC Lorient.
Since then, he has been a columnist on Canal +.
But also…
Young shoots like Idrissa Gueye, now at PSG, Alexandre Oukidja, porter of Metz or Arnaud Souquet, side of Montpellier, were part of this adventure of 2011. Tulio de Melo, who then played in Spain, Brazil and Japan , Florent Balmont or Pierre-Alain Frau have since retired.
Read also
Ligue 1: Fight for the title, race for Europe and maintenance, a breathtaking end of the season