WE ARE RENNES

Stade Rennais are a French football club based in the city of Rennes, in the Brittany region of France.

 

BEGINNINGS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stade Rennais (Rennes) were formed on 10th March 1901 by a group of students as the sport of football was becoming popular in the French region of Brittany. 

 

Two weeks from the day they were formed, Stade Rennais, wearing shirts with sky blue stripes, participated in their first match against FC Rennais which led to a 6-0 defeat for Stade Rennais.

 

In 1902, Stade Rennais was a founding member team for the newly  created regional league called 'Ligue de Bretagne de football'. In its second season Stade Rennais won the league defeating FC Rennais who had won the first season by four goals to zero.

 

In 1904, FC Rennais and Stade Rennais merged as one to create a force to rival the dominant team in the league, US Saint-Servant (US Saint-Malo) known for their use of British players. The merger of the two clubs became known as 'Stade Rennais Université Club'.  The club aopted FC Rennais' colours of red and black which the club still uses to the current day.

 

Historian Claude Loire has said “In the Middle-Age, Rennes was nicknamed the 'red city'” , in reference to the red schism of Ille et Vilaine. Black and Red was chosen since FC Rennais, the oldest of both clubs, was founded by anarchist-syndicalist students. The shirt has got a double identity of laicism and Catholicism, the red colour being a symbol of the republic while the black colour symbolizes a priest’s cassock"

 

After a few years of Saint-Malo domination, Rennes finally overcame the strong force in the regional league by winning the championship in 1908 with Welshman, Arthur Griffith as manager. The Red and Blacks went onto repeat the feat by lifiting the league title the year after. Unfortunately, the dominance of Rennes was short-lived as Saint-Malo went on to win the next five league titles.

 

POST WAR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the First World War the objective of Stade Rennais switched to the newly created Coupe de France. With a new squad of hungry players, Rennes reached the cup final, playing against Red Star Olympique, who themselves added strong players to their squad. Rennes were beaten 2-0 by Red Star, conceding an early fourth minute goal and a late settler, wrapping up the cup for Red Star.

 

Rennes joined the Ligue de l'Ouest following the disorganisation of the USFSA in 1913. Rennes won three consecutive titles in this league in 1919, 1920 and 1921. Rennes left this league due to the introduction of extra games to play in the league.

 

Rennes became a 'Free Agent' team playing in friendlies for three years with 102 games all in. Rennes played many European teams during that time including Austria Vienna and Sparta Prague. 

 

In 1932, Rennes striker Walter Kaiser became the first top scorer in the newly created French Championship.

 

Rennes were back in a cup final for the second time when they played Marseille in front of 30,000 spectators, losing 3-0 in 1938. This was just the beginning of a tough few years for Rennes as the were relegated, where they remained for two seasons. Due to the break of World War Two, professional football was abolished in France, recommencing after the war with Rennes gaining a place in the first division again. In 1949 Rennes reached a high fourth place finish. Since then, Rennes were subjected to several promotions and relegations from the first and second tier until the late 1950s.

 

CHANGES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rennes brought in new President Louis Girard who went on to change several features of the club including a renovation of the club's stadium, 'Stade de la Route de Lorient'. Girard wanted the club to compete on an international level and began his quest with Rennes being promoted to Division One in 1958. Rennes were a bottom half side until another fourth place finish in the 1964/65 season under manager, Jean Prouff- this was the best year for the club since its formation.

 

That season the club managed to get into their third cup final since its formation, Sedan were to be the opponents of the Red and Black. After a 2-2 draw, a replay was won by Rennes 3-1 in the Parc des Princes. Rennes now had their place in European football for the first time.

 

Rennes competed in the UEFA Cup Winner's Cup and Dukla Prague were the opponents in the first round. Rennes were defeated over the two legs- their first European challenge was shortlived. 

 

Although Rennes were performing well in the cups (reaching semi-finals in 1967 and 1970) their domestic campaign was not living up to their cup appearances. Nonetheless, in 1971 Rennes made their fifth appearance in a cup final, winning it for the second time. This was a narrow 1-0 victory for Rennes with Andre Guy winning the game for the Breton club against Lyon. 60,000 fans turned out at the Town Hall to celebrate the victory. Another European campaign was cut short by Rangers, losing 2-1 in aggregate over the two legs.

 

In 1972 began changes for the club. The name was changed for the last time to its current form, manager Jean Prouff left the club and from there on in the club entered a period of turmoil. Between the period of 1972-1994 Rennes had eleven different managers and chopped between the First and Second Divisions once again. The biggest threat to Rennes existence as a club came in 1986 when it was close to bankruptcy. The club were told to sell their bigger earners by a tribunal and entered into a period of austerity. The city's municipality became a majority shareholder. That same year Rennes reached the semi-final of the cup losing out to Marseille. 

 

MODERN HISTORY

 

In 1994 things started to get back to some form of normality for Rennes. François Pinault (the 4th richest Frenchman) became the majority shareholder with over 66% ownership. Pinault brought some changes of his own by re-constructing the Route de Lorient and spending €21 million on Lucas Severino. The club began to utilize its youth academy bringing through players such as Sylvain Wiltord, Ulrich Le Pen and Jocelyn Gourvennec. With Paul Le Guen at the helm, in 1999 Rennes gained a fifth place finish, their highest for some years. As a result of this finish, Rennes were put into the Intertoto Cup and reached the final against Juventus- losing the first leg in Turin 2-0 and drawing the return leg 2-2.

 

2001 saw the club's 100 year anniversary and a match was set up between the Senegal National Football Team and former players. Fireworks and a video package was produced looking back on the past 100 years of the club.

 

The Rennes youth team saw some glory of their own in 2003, winning the U19 version of the Coupe de France (Gambardella Cup). The players in the squad features some well known names such as Yoann Gourcuff and Jacques Faty.

 

In 2005, Rennes' first team's fortunes also took a boost finishing fourth place in the league and reaching the cup final against PSG, losing 1-0. Rennes qualified for Europe once more playing in the UEFA Cup, they were drawn against Spanish side, Osasuna. Rennes came out on top this time winning 3-1 at home and drawing the away leg 0-0- they had made it to the group stages. Rennes were drawn against Stuttgart, Rapid Bucharest, PAOK and Shakhtar Donetsk, crashing out after many defeats.

 

In 2008, the U19 squad won the Gambardella Cup again, this time a new breed of youngsters were coming through the academy with great success including Samuel Souprayen, Damien Le Tallec, Yacine Brahimi, Kévin Théophile-Catherine and Yann M’Vila. A notable feat in this cup run was that Rennes never conceeded a goal including the final which was contested by penalties against Bordeaux after a scoreless draw.

 

In 2009, Rennes reached the final of the Coupe de France, losing out to EA Guingamp in a 1-2 defeat. During the cup campaign Rennes eliminated fellow Breton club, Lorient from the competition.

 

In the 2010/11 season, Rennes finished sixth place, making the UEFA Cup 3rd Qualifying round- Rennes were tied against Metalurgi Rustav. The Bretons comfortably went through to the play-offs winning 7-2 in aggregate. Crvena Zveda were the opponents for Rennes. A narrow win in Belgrade and a comfortable home win sent Rennes into the 2011/12 Europa League group stages. Their opponents in the group were Atletico Madrid, Celtic and Udinese. Rennes finished fourth place in the group, managing three draws and three defeats.

 

Next season Rennes once again found themselves in a cup final, this time it was the Coupe de la Ligue and St Ettiene were the opponents of the 'Red and Blacks'. 79,000 fans packed into the Stade de France that evening which saw Rennes lose 1-0 to 'Les Verts', courtesy of a Brandao goal in the 18th minute. The final was the last big event Rennes manager, Frédéric Antonetti, would lead them to. Antonetti departed that year with new manager, Philippe Montanier.

 

In 2014, with the ex-Real Sociedad coach, Rennes made it to yet another final (Coupe de France) and it was fellow Bretons, EA Guingamp who were to be the opponents- a repeat of the 2009 Coupe final. History prevailed once more as Guingamp defeated Rennes 0-2 and seizing a Europa League spot.