LOSC Lille Métropole (French pronunciation: [lil ɔlɛ̃pik]; commonly referred to as Lille OSC, LOSC Lille, or simply Lille) is a French association football club based in Lille. The club was founded in 1944 as a result of a merger and currently play in Ligue 1, the first division of French football. Lille plays its home matches at the Stade Lille-Metropole in nearby Villeneuve-d'Ascq. In 2012, the club will move into a new facility, tentatively named Grand Stade Lille Métropole. The team is managed by former Lille player Rudi Garcia and captained by French international Rio Mavuba.

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 in 1946, 1954, and 2011 and six Coupe de France titles, which is tied for fourth-best among clubs. Lille and Red Star FC are the only French clubs in the competition's history to win the Coupe de France in three consecutive seasons. The club is the current holder of both the Ligue 1 title and the Coupe de France. Lille's most successful period was the decade from 1946–1956 when the team was led by managers George Berry and André Cheuva.

Coordinates: 50°38′14″N 3°03′48″E / 50.6372°N 3.0633°E / 50.6372; 3.0633

Lille (French pronunciation: [lil] ( listen); Dutch: Rijsel) is a city in northern France (French Flanders). It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium. It is the capital of the Nord-Pas de Calais region and the prefecture of the Nord department.

The city of Lille, which annexed Lomme on 27 February 2000, had a population of 226,014 at the 2006 census. Meanwhile, the Lille Métropole, which also includes Roubaix, Tourcoing and numerous suburban communities, had a population of 1,091,438. The eurodistrict of Lille-Kortrijk, which also includes the areas of the Belgian cities of Kortrijk, Tournai, Mouscron and Ypres, had 1,905,000 residents.^{[citation needed]}

The legend of "Lydéric and Phinaert" puts the foundation of the city of "L'Isle" at 640. Although the first mention of the town appears in archives from the year 1066, some archeological digs seem to show the area as inhabited by as early as 2000 BC^{[citation needed]}, most notably in the modern-day quartiers of Fives, Wazemmes, and Old Lille.

Vincent Enyeama (born 29 August 1982) is a Nigerian football goalkeeper. Since 2002, he has played for the national team of Nigeria. He currently plays for Lille, who he signed for in June 2011.

During his spell with Enyimba he won the CAF Champions League twice, with one noteworthy mention: He was always substituted before penalty shootouts.

"I don't know why I was substituted before penalties, but it worked," he said in an interview back in 2006. "In Israel I stopped many penalties and now everyone knows that I can handle penalties." After three seasons with Enyimba and one with FC Heartland, Enyeama moved to a minor club in Israel, Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv. He had a fantastic first season, showing amazing physical and athletic skills. In his first season with Bnei Yehuda, the team qualified for the final of the Israel State Cup and achieved fourth place in the Israeli Premier League, which qualified the team for the 2006 UEFA Cup. Enyeama has played for Hapoel Tel Aviv since 2007. Hapoel Tel Aviv endured a poor season in 2007/2008, but Enyeama just kept on improving. He proved to be a real leader helping the team to avoid relegation and reach the state cup final. This included an emotional letter he wrote to his fellow players, encouraging them to fight together for the club. Slowly he started to feel that he belonged to the club, Enyeama has been performing extremely well in recent seasons, showing steady improvement from year to year. On 18 August 2010 he scored his first goal of the 2010-11 season with a penalty against Red Bull Salzburg in the Champions League qualifiers. In June 2011 he moved to French side Lille for an undisclosed fee on a three year contract. He made his debut on the 18 October 2011 against Inter Milan in the 2012 UEFA Champions League group stage, where Inter managed a 1-0 victory

Joseph John "Joe" Cole (born 8 November 1981) is an English footballer who plays for Liverpool, and the England national football team as midfielder. He started his career with West Ham United where he played more than 100 games during five years, until he left for Chelsea in 2003. Cole won a number of trophies with Chelsea, including three Premier League titles and two FA Cups before leaving on a free transfer in July 2010 to join Liverpool. He is described as "a technically gifted player with the creativity to unlock a defence".

Cole was born in Paddington, London and lived there until he moved to Camden at the age of six. He was educated at St. Mary's Primary School, Bryanston Square in Marylebone along with brother Nicky and sister Charly. He also attended Haverstock School in Chalk Farm, Camden and St. Aloysius RC College in North London. As a youngster Joe Cole supported Chelsea. Joe Cole is a patron for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

A child prodigy who received national media attention as a schoolboy, Cole famously scored seven of the eight goals the England youth team scored against Spain in one match. Cole is a product of the West Ham United youth system. He was long touted as the hottest prospect in English football with Manchester United reportedly offering to pay £10 million for his services as a 16-year-old. Playing in a mould similar to former England favourite Paul Gascoigne, he quickly progressed through the West Ham ranks before making his first-team debut at the age of 17. In 1999 Cole was part of West Ham's victorious FA Youth Cup winning squad (alongside Michael Carrick), defeating Coventry City 9–0 on aggregate in the final. In January 2003 Glenn Roeder, then West Ham United manager gave Cole the club captain's armband at the age of 21. The club was relegated from the Premier League at the end of that season. Cole won the "Hammer of the Year award" for 2003.

Salomon Armand Magloire Kalou (born 5 August 1985) is an Ivorian footballer who plays as a striker or winger who plays for Chelsea in the Premier League. Speculation indicates he is set to be released on June 30th when his contract expires.

He has often been used on the wings at Chelsea. He has a preference for playing on the left wing as this gives him opportunities to cut inside and take shots with his favoured right foot. He is known for his speed and his ability to take on defenders in wide areas.

Born in Oumé, Côte d'Ivoire, like his older brother Bonaventure, Kalou began his career in local club Mimosas before plying his trade in Europe. Auxerre coach Guy Roux wanted to sign him to unite him with his brother, former Feyenoord player, Bonaventure Kalou. However, Kalou signed for Feyenoord Rotterdam in 2003. In 2004 he was loaned to Feyenoord's "satellite club" Excelsior Rotterdam.

Then he returned to Feyenoord and played in the Dutch top flight for two seasons from 2004 to 2006. During his time at Feyenoord, Salomon scored 35 goals in 67 league appearances for the Rotterdam club, and also won an individual award when he won the Johan Cruijff Award in 2005 for being the most promising young talent of that season. Kalou, together with Dirk Kuyt, were affectionately known as 'K2' by Feyenoord fans and the Dutch Media. 'K2' because they dominated the Feyenoord offensive line-up and it is a play on the words K3, a Belgian pop band.