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Canadian Jonathan David captures historic Ligue 1 title with Lille OSC

Lille OSC are Ligue 1 champions thanks to Canadian men’s international Jonathan David.

The 21-year-old scored the French title-clinching goal for Les Dogues Sunday – a 2-1 win over Angers SCO seen live on OneSoccer – capping off a historic win for both the club and David, who became the latest Canadian to win a top flight European league in a banner year for the men’s program.

David’s opening marker came in the 10th minute when Portugal international Renato Sanches found David behind a committed defender. A calm right-footed strike from the top of the box – which was David’s 13th goal on the season – helped Lille to capture their first Ligue 1 title since the 2011-12 season.

The versatile attacker also drew the penalty that gave Lille’s second marker, scored by Burak Yilmaz in first-half stoppage time. David played 90 minutes, substituted out on the brink of stoppage time before Angers scored a consolation goal to make it 2-1.

Les Dogues went into Sunday’s final league day one point up on perennial French champions and pre-season favourites Paris-Saint Germain, who beat Brest 2-0.


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David is the latest Canadian to win a European championship in a historically impressive year for Les Rouges. Besiktas’ Cyle Larin (33 caps for Canada, 12 goals) and Atiba Hutchinson (85 caps), Rangers midfielder Scott Arfield (19 caps), Red Star Belgrade ‘keeper Milan Borjan (50 caps), Jessie Fleming (81 caps), and Bayern Munich starlet Alphonso Davies (19 caps) have all won league crowns this season.

The Ottawa, Ont. native’s goal Sunday also set a new record for most goals by a Canadian soccer player in a top-five men’s European league (England, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany). David had previously beaten former record holder Tomasz Radziński, who scored 11 goals with Everton in 2002-03.

David joined Lille this off-season from Belgian side KAA Gent, where he scored 26 goals in 50 senior appearances. The attacker has scored 11 goals in 12 appearances for Canada’s senior men’s national team since making his debut in 2018. In 2019, David was named Canada Soccer’s Canadian Men’s Player of the Year.