Stade Rennais F.C.

Stade Rennais

Full name	Stade Rennais Football Club
Nickname(s)	Les Rouges et Noirs (red and blacks)
Founded	1901
Ground	Route de Lorient, Rennes (Capacity: 31,127)
Chairman	Patrick Le Lay
Manager	Frédéric Antonetti
League	Ligue 1
2009–10	Ligue 1, 9th
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Stade Rennais Football Club (French pronunciation: [stɑd ʁɛ.nɛ]; commonly referred to as Stade Rennais or simply Rennes) is a French association football club based in Rennes. The club was founded in 1901 under the name Stade Rennais Université Club and assumed their current name in 1971. In the same year, the club won its last notable trophy, the Coupe de France, defeating Olympique Lyonnais in the 1971 final. Rennes currently play in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. The team is managed by Frédéric Antonetti and the president is Patrick Le Lay, who is close to businessman François Pinault, who owns the team.

History

Early years

Stade Rennais was founded on 10 March 1901 by former students from Rennes. Their first match took place two weeks later against FC Rennais, which they lost 6–0. In 1902, the club acquired the "Omnisport" status and became part of the USFSA. The following year, Stade Rennais was a founding member of the Brittany Football League, which they won in its inaugural 1903 season. By the end of the season, the club had won the second "série", beating FC Rennes 4–0 in the final.

Key players of the Stade Rennais in 1903 were Martin Peter, Langelier Montouan, Mr. Duchesne, Guilbert Ghis, Mr. Marcel, Mr. Leroy, Mr. Audren, and Mr. Jamin. Duchesne, Jamin, Peter, and Ghis were amongst the founding members of the club in 1901.

On 4 May 1904, Stade Rennais and FC Rennais merged to give birth to Stade Rennais Université Club.^[1]

The merger left the Stade Rennais UC with one main opponent in Brittany, the Union Sportive Servanaise. Close misses in 1905, 1906, and 1907 against the US Servanaise lead President Sexer of the SRUC to hire Welsh footballer Griffith as player-manager-captain. Having played in the English Football League for several years, Griffith adopted an English approach to management and tactics at the Stade Rennais, and won the Brittany football league in 1908 and 1909.

However, Griffith was unable to retain the title in 1910 as the US Servanaise finished as champions with two points more than the Stade Rennais UC. US Servannaise's domination continued for the next four years as they won five titles on the run, with each time the Stade Rennais UC second, less than five points behind the champions.

During World War I, Rennes were allowed to participate in the Allied Cup (Inter-federation French Championship) as well as the Rennes Cup, since the Brittany league was interrupted by the war. After winning easily the Rennes Cup, Griffith lead his players to a number of surprise wins against better known clubs and were finalists thanks to a 3–0 win against Le Havre and a 5–0 win over the Entente Suisse. The final, played in Paris against FC Lyon, was delayed several times, but in the end, the Rouge et Noirs became Interfederal Champions of France thanks to a 7–1 win.^[2]

The following year, Rennes had a successful run in the Interfederation cup but were unable to retain their title. Having become a strong national side, since Rennes won the Upper Brittany League in 1918, as well as the Allies Cup in 1916 and 1917, the post-war period was one of great success for the Stade Rennais UC: Western Champions in 1919, 1920, 1921, and 1923, the Stade Rennais was also finalist of the French Cup in 1922, losing 2–0 against Red Star Saint-Ouen. The squad in the 1922 final was notable for the presence for François Hughes, the first French international to play for Rennes, and considered to be one of the best French centre-forwards of his time.

In 1924, the Stade Rennais Université Club merged with the Rennes Etudiant-Club, keeping the name of Stade Rennais Université Club. The season was disappointing however, with Rennes finishing outside the top 2 places of the league they were playing in for the first time since 1907, being 3rd in the Western Division.

The President of the Stade Rennais, Isidore Odorico, brought several foreign players to the club (Lothka, Szabo, Nico...), but the side remained unable to win the Western Division, and President Odorico's attitude towards both amateurism and restrictions on foreign players conflicted with the Western Division's direction. As other teams rose in the Western Division (Stade Quimpérois and CSJB Angers), Rennes decided to retire from the Western Division in 1929.

For three years, the Stade Rennais Université Club was no longer part of the Western Division, and played only friendly games. They managed to attract good international sparring-partners, however, such as Sparta Prague, Slavia Prague, Austria Vienna, Budapest, and nation-wide known sides such as Red Star Saint-Ouen, Olympique de Marseille or FC Sochaux-Montbéliard.^[3]

Professional years

In 1932, the FFF started the French professional football league. Whilst Odorico's policy was in favour of professionalism, the club was in a dire financial state after having missed 3 seasons of league football, and despite the support the club had in Rennes, the Stade Rennais' application to enter the professional football league was rejected on the basis that club finances were too fragile. Odorico managed to convince supporters to donate money to the club, and after the club's financial fragility had been solved, the FFF accepted the Stade Rennais amongst the 20 clubs to participate in the first season.^[4]

Rennes' start to professional football was encouraging, with a 6th place in their first season. However, the club's financial situation didn't improve, and by 1937 the club had to be subsidised by the town of Rennes after the mayor was put under pressure by local commerce. When the second World War started in 1939, the French football league was disbanded, and the Stade Rennais Université Club reverted to amateur status. For two years, the Stade only played in the French Cup, as well as friendly matches against local sides. In 1941, Rennes took part in the Occupied Area Division of the French League, but finished a disappointing 7th out of 9. The following season confirmed Rennes low level with a 14th position out of 16 in the North Zone Division.

In 1943, the Vichy régime instaured the interfederal French football league. Rennes-Bretagne is one of the 16 federations to be part of the league, and although the Stade Rennais UC was the only team in Brittany to have been in Division 1 only two players of the Stade Rennais were chosen to be part of the squad : Henri Guérin and Jean Prouff.^[5]

Those years were the beginning of stability at the club, but the 1990–91 season was a failure, despite players such as François Omam-Biyik and Arnold Oosterveer. However, the team was saved from relegation thanks to the administrative relegations of OGC Nice and Stade Brestois. The following year, in 1991–92, Rennes was not able to avoid relegation. The club began to play with young players from its youth academy, such as Sylvain Wiltord, Jocelyn Gourvennec, Ulrich Le Pen and Laurent Huard, and were able to return to Division 1. On July 7, 1993 Pinault group became the main sponsor of the club, with its brands Pinault. The club has been playing in the top division since this date. During this era, the team had players such as Marco Grassi and Shabani Nonda.^[6]

Pinault years

In 1998, Breton businessman François Pinault, a great fan of the team, bought the team and gave it a strong financial stability.^[6] He was ambitious from the start. Rennais bought stars at a high price such as South-American Lucas Severino (140 millions of French franc)^[7], Mario Hector Turdo for the Division 1 2000-01 but these players were all failures.^[8] The team has now changed from this strategy and once again uses players from its youth academy, arguably one of the best in France, and at one point the best for three consecutive years.^[9][10]

In the Ligue 1 2004–05 campaign, Rennes managed to finish in a commendable fourth place in the final standings, their best ever position, securing them automatic qualifition for the UEFA Cup. In the 2005–06 season, following a very close race for the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup qualifications in France, they finished a disappointing seventh place. In 2006–07 season Rennes again finished in fourth place, missing out on a UEFA Champions League place as a result of a Lille goal in the 93rd minute of the last game of the season. But they did secure UEFA Cup football for next season, despite absence of Alexander Frei and Kim Källström.

In 2007–08, Rennes again qualified for the Intertoto Cup by finishing 6th. After having done a huge recruitement (Jérôme Leroy, Sylvain Wiltord, Mickael Pagis, Rod Fanni), Rennes was considered as a challenger for this 2007–08 season. A strong start to the season had them in 3rd place in November, but a string of nine defeats saw them plummet down the table. The team reacted, however, and finished the season in 6th. As a consequence of those losses, Pierre Dréossi, the coach, vacated his coaching position, and Guy Lacombe was hired as coach. Dréossi remains in the staff as a general manager.

During the 2008–09 season, Rennes went on a 18-game unbeaten streak, only suffering a single loss, 1–0 away to Grenoble on 17 August 2008. The club eventually finished the season in 7th place position. Being considered the leading Breton football club, Rennes decided in 2009 to found a new club tradition: the national anthem of Brittany, the Bro Gozh ma Zadoù, will from September 2009 be played at the opening of each match at the Stade de la Route the Lorient.^[11]

Academy

In recent years, Rennes have been notable for their youth academy, bringing through players that are considered household names on the international scene such as Petr Čech and Yoann Gourcuff. Their youth players make up much of the current first squad, such as Moussa Sow, Jimmy Briand, and Fabien Lemoine. The new generation of youth, which includes Yacine Brahimi, Yohann Lasimant, Yann M'Vila, Quentin Rouger, Abdoulaye Diallo, Kévin Théophile-Catherine, and Samuel Souprayen, are the current holders of the Coupe Gambardella, the national French under 18 club tournament. Damien Le Tallec was also a member of this generation, but recently moved to German club Borussia Dortmund. The club has been awarded the honour of having the best youth academy in France for the past three years.

Colours

Stade Rennais first kit

The Stade Rennais first played in a vertically-striped sky blue and sea blue shirt, while FC Rennais wore a red and black shirt. After the merger, Stade Rennais UC changed its colours, their new kit combined the vertical stripes of Stade Rennais and the red and black of FC Rennais.

Supporters

Flares of the Roazhon Celtic Kop at Stade de la Route de Lorient

The Stade Rennais gathers numerous supporter groups, ranging from groups of senior supporters to ultras. The oldest, most structured and officially frequented, is Allez Rennes, founded in 1962. The group is, together with Les Socios, founded in 1992, the largest group of traditional supporters.

The most noise comes however from the side of the stadium popularly called Tribune Mordelles, which stand Ouest France Bas is occupied by the Roazhon Celtic Kop (RCK). The group is founded in 1991, but its roots stretch back to 1987 with a group of supporters named Ultras Roazhon. It was formed by three young supporters who decided to establish the Mordelles stand as the true hot spot of the stadium^[12]. The group marks its presence not only through continuous singing and the use of illegal flares, but also through numerous tifos, as well as choreographies. The Breton identity is regularly displayed and the use of Celtic symbols is frequent.^[13] A special feat of the RCK is that of having made the largest Gwenn-ha-du in history measuring 270 square meters. It was displayed at the Mordelles stand during the 1994–95 season.^[14]

The RCK functions as an unconditional supporter group present at all matches, including those at European level, and gathers mainly supporters of ultras-mentality, but also holds on to its values "Friendship, Respect and Party" ("Amitié, Respect et Fête") and keeps an open attitude towards those supporters of Stade Rennais who share them. The group is not officially political but has taken a strong position against "Football business", the suppression of the ultras-movement (the prohibition of flares etc.) and fascism. The RCK is also a member of the French anti-racist network of supporter groups, the RSRA (Réseau Supporter de Résistance Antiraciste) and as outspoken anti-fascists the group should naturally be labeled as Antifa ultras.

Counted as another major supporter group of the Stade Rennais is the Section Roazhon Pariz. It is a section of the RCK domiciled in Paris. The group supports the team at important away matches, such as those against Olympique Lyonnais, and naturally those against Paris SG^[15].

The RCK makes no attempt to hide its chaotic, festive, appearance and in 2003, a second group of ultras, The Breizh Stourmer (Breton, to be understood as "Breton Warriors") was formed through a break with the RCK. The Breizh Stourmer was created around the idea of a small strong core and chose its stand on the opposite side of the RCK. The Breizh Stourmer has been accused by elements of the RCK for housing extreme-right leanings and violent clashes between radical members of the two groups have occurred. The main rival of the RCK has however not been the Breizh Stourmer, but for many years, the supporters of FC Nantes, notably the Bridage Loire.

The Breizh Stourmer is since 2008 dissolved, but the year saw also the birth of a new group of supporters, the Unvez Kelt (UK) (Breton, to be understood as "Celtic Unity"). Initially refused as an official group of supporters by the club, it was finally accepted, with the help of Les Socios and should according to some be seen as a branch of the latter with a mentality oriented towards the ultras-movement.

Honours

Coupe de France

• Winner: 1965, 1971

Ligue 2

• Champions: 1955-56, 1982-83

Intertoto Cup

• Winner: 2008

Coupe Gambardella

• Winner: 1973, 2003, 2008

Western DH (Division d'honneur)

• Champions: 1920, 1923

Western USFSA League

• Champions: 1904, 1906, 1908, 1909

French Interfederation Cup

• Champions: 1916

Western Interfederation Cup

• Champions: 1919

Odorico Cup

• Champions: 1920

Allies' Cup

• Champions: 1916, 1917

Upper Britanny League

• Champions: 1921

Rennes Cup

• Champions: 1916

Management staff

• General Manager: Pierre Dréossi
• Manager: Frédéric Antonetti
• Assistant Manager: Jean-Marie De Zerbi
• Youth Coach: Laurent Huard
• Goalkeeping Coach: Christophe Revel
• Fitness Coach: Nicolas Dyon
• Team Chef: Pierrick Hiard
• Advisor: Éric Guérit
• Kit Manager: Marcel Campagnac

Players

Current squad

As of 29 June 2010.^[16] Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Nicolas Douchez 3 FW Asamoah Gyan 4 DF Onyekachi Apam 5 DF Kader Mangane 6 MF Alexander Tettey 7 MF Jérôme Leroy 8 MF Sylvain Marveaux 9 FW Ismaël Bangoura 10 MF Stéphane Dalmat 11 FW Jirès Kembo Ekoko 13 DF Samuel Souprayen 14 MF Georges Mandjeck 15 DF Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik 16 GK Johann Carrasso

No. Position Player 17 MF Yann M'Vila 18 MF Fabien Lemoine 20 MF Yacine Brahimi 21 FW Víctor Montaño 24 FW Lhadji Badiane 25 DF John Boye 26 DF Kévin Théophile-Catherine 28 MF Tongo Hamed Doumbia 29 MF Romain Danzé 30 GK Cheick N'Diaye 32 FW Abdoul Camara 33 DF Bira Dembélé 40 GK Abdoulaye Diallo — MF Yassine Jebbour

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player — MF Vincent Pajot (on loan at Boulogne until the end of the 2010–11 Ligue 2 season)

Reserve team

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK David André GK Niall Burdon GK Vincent Dorel GK Devis Epassy M'Boka DF Fabien Balisier DF Kévin Beauverger DF Dimitri Foulquier DF Benjamin Basse DF Daouda Gérard DF Christopher Graffin DF Alexandre Huot DF Pierre Lemonnier DF Wesley Yamnaine DF Vincent Le Boulaire MF Abdoulaye Doucouré MF Alexandre Even

No. Position Player MF Franck Héry MF Jonathan Isambart MF Hakim Khadrejnane MF Kamal Issah MF Axel N'Gando Elessa MF Nicolas Quesne MF François Rio MF Quentin Rouger MF Eliott Sorin FW Benoît Ardhuin FW Jean-Bryan Boukaka FW Cyril Durand FW Kévin Makila-Mutombo FW Franck Julienne FW Slimane Sissoko

Notable players

For a complete list of former Stade Rennais FC players with a Wikipedia article, see here.

Managerial history

Managers since accession to professional status in 1932, with the exception of 1939–1941 where the Stade Rennais reverted to amateur status, and 1942–1944 where no manager was appointed by the board, and 1945 where the Stade Rennais didn't compete in any competition.^[17]

Citations

References

• Grant, Jarvie (1999). Sport in the Making of Celtic Cultures (Sport and Nation). Leicester University. ISBN 0718501292. 

External links

• (French) Official Site
• (English) Fan Site