Rennes

Rennes is a football (soccer) club from France.

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Stade Rennais Football Club, commonly known simply as Stade Rennais or Rennes, is a France association football club from the city of Rennes who currently play in Ligue 1, the top French division, in Ligue 1 2008–09. It is Rennes's 49th season in the top flight of Football in France. The team coach is Frédéric Antonetti and the president is Frédéric de Saint-Sernin, who is close to billionaire François Pinault, who owns the team.

Founded in 1901 as Stade Rennais Université Club they assumed their current name in 1971. In the same year, Rennes won its last notable trophy, the Coupe de France, defeating Olympique Lyonnais in the Coupe de France Final 1971.

History

1901-1904

Stade Rennais was founded on 10 March 1901 by former students from Rennes. Their first match took place two weeks later against :fr:Football Club Rennais, which they lost 6-0. In 1902, Rennes acquired the "Omnisport" status and became part of the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques. The following year, Stade Rennais was a founding member of the :fr:Ligue de Bretagne de football, which they won in its inaugural 1903 season. By the end of the season, Rennes 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 Rennes in 1901.

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

1905-1923

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 Wales 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 AC 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.

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 national football team international to play for Rennes, and considered to be one of the best French centre-forwards of his time.

1924-1931

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 Rennes (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, SK Slavia Praha, FK Austria Wien, Újpest FC, and nation-wide known sides such as Red Star Saint-Ouen, Olympique de Marseille or FC Sochaux-Montbéliard.

1932-1945

In 1932, the French Football Federation started the Ligue 1. Whilst Odorico's policy was in favour of professionalism, Rennes was in a dire financial state after having missed 3 seasons of league football, and despite the support Rennes 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 Rennes's financial fragility had been solved, the FFF accepted the Stade Rennais amongst the 20 clubs to participate in French football Division 1 1932/1933.

Rennes' start to professional football was encouraging, with a 6th place in their first season. However, Rennes's financial situation didn't improve, and by 1937 Rennes 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 Coupe de France, 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 France 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.

1990-1998

Those years were the beginning of stability at the club, but the French soccer Division 1 1990/1991 was a failure, despite players such as François Omam-Biyik and Arnold Oosterveer. However, Rennes was saved from relegation thanks to the administrative relegations of OGC Nice and Stade Brestois. The following year, in French soccer Division 1 1991/1992, Rennes was not able to avoid relegation. Rennes 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 Ligue 1. On July 7, 1993 PPR (company) became the main sponsor of the club, with its brands Pinault. Rennes has been playing in the top division since this date. During this era, Rennes had players such as Marco Grassi and Shabani Nonda.

Since 1998

In 1998, Breton people billionaire François Pinault, a great fan of the team, bought Rennes and gave it a strong financial stability. He was ambitious from the start. Rennais bought stars at a high price such as South-American Lucas Severino (140 millions of French franc), Mario Hector Turdo for the Division 1 2000-01 but these players were all failures. 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.

In the Ligue 1 season 2004/2005 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 2005-2006 in Ligue 1 season, following a very close race for the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup qualifications in France, they finished a disappointing seventh place.

In Ligue 1 season 2006-07 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 Ligue 1 2007-08, Rennes again qualified for the Intertoto Cup by finishing 6th. After having done a huge recruitement (Jérôme Leroy (footballer), 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.

As of 11 January 2009, Rennes is on a 18-game unbeaten streak, only suffering a single loss, 1–0 away to Grenoble Foot 38 on 17 August 2008, so far this season.

Academy

In recent years, Rennes have been notable for their academy, bringing through players now household names on the international scene such as Petr Čech and Yoann Gourcuff. To add to this other players, such as Stephane Mbia, have attracted offers from many top European clubs as well as French Champions Olympique Lyonnais, where there are 3 ex-Rennes players currently in the squad. Their youth players make up much of the current first squad, currently in the top four of Ligue 1, such as Moussa Sow, Jimmy Briand, and Fabien Lemoine. They are also current holders of the Coupe Gambardella, the national French under 18 club tournament, and for three years ina row have been awarded the best youth system award.

Colours

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

The Stade Rennais gathers numerous groups of supporters, ranging from senior supporters to ultras. The oldest, most structured and officially frequented, is Allez Rennes, founded in 1962. The group is together with Les Socios, a group of so called "unconditionals" and founded in 1992, the largest group of traditional supporters. Another many times smaller, but none less invisible group of supporters is Les Diables Rouges.

The most noise comes however from the side of the stadium populary called Tribune Mordelles, on which stand the Roazhon Celtic Kop (RCK) is to be found. 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 Tribune Mordelles as the true hot spot of the stadium. 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 by the use of Celts symbols.

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 Roazhon Celtic Kop is also a member of the French anti-racist network of supporter groups, the RSRA (Réseau Supporter de Résistance Antiraciste) and as outspoken anti-racists the group should naturally be labeled as Antifa ultras. 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 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 since 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

French Cup

- Winner: Coupe de France Final 1965, Coupe de France Final 1971
- Finalists : Coupe de France Final 1922, Coupe de France Final 1935, Coupe de France Final 2009
- Semi-finalists : 1919, 1959, 1967, 1970, 1986, 2003, 2006
- Quarter-finalists : 1918, 1923, 1924, 1929, 1934, 1952, 1989, 2000, 2004

Ligue 2

- Champions : 1956, 1983
- Runners-up : 1939, 1958, 1980, 1993, 1994

Other

- Intertoto Cup :
- - Winner : 2008
- - Finalists : 1999
- 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 :
- - Winners : 1916
- Western Interfederation Cup :
- - Winners : 1919
- Odorico Cup :
- - Winners : 1920
- Allies' Cup :
- - Winners : 1916, 1917
- Upper Britanny League :
- - Champions : 1921
- Rennes Cup :
- - Winners : 1916

Presence in Europe

- Cup Winners' Cup :
- - 1965-66 : Eliminated by Dukla Prague in first round.
- - 1971-72 : Eliminated by Rangers F.C. in first round.
- UEFA Cup :
- - 2005-06 : Eliminated in group stage.
- - 2007-08 : Eliminated in group stage.
- - 2008-09 : Eliminated by FC Twente in first round.
- Intertoto Cup :
- - 1996-97 : Eliminated in group stage.
- - 1999-00 : Finalist, defeated by Juventus F.C.
- - 2001-02 : Eliminated by Aston Villa in semi-final.
- - 2008-09 : Winner, Beat SC Tavriya Simferopol in the third round

Overall European Record

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

As of July 28, 2008.

1st Squad

Youth and Reserves Squad

Out on loan

Famous past players

For a complete list of former Stade Rennais FC players with a article, see :Category:Stade Rennais FC players.

French players

- Dominique Arribagé
- Jean-Luc Arribart
- Marcel Aubour
- Jean-Pierre Brucato
- Louis Cardiet
- Patrice Carteron
- Ousmane Dabo
- Jean-Claude Darcheville
- Claude Dubaële
- Julien Escudé
- Pascal Fugier
- Franck Gava

- Bernard Goueffic
- Jocelyn Gourvennec
- Yoann Gourcuff
- Stéphane Guivarch
- André Guy
- Nicolas Goussé
- Laurent Huard
- Raymond Kéruzoré
- Guy Lacombe

- Bernard Lama
- Robert Lamartine
- Jean-Claude Lavaud
- Serge Lenoir
- Ulrich Le Pen
- Serge Le Dizet
- Marcel Loncle
- Bertrand Marchand
- Olivier Monterrubio
- Didier Notheaux

- Simon Pouplin
- Jean Prouff
- Anthony Réveillère
- Robert Rico
- Daniel Rodighiéro
- Mickaël Silvestre
- Gérard Soler
- Guy Stéphan
- Yannick Stopyra
- Sylvain Wiltord

- Mahi Khennane
- Uwe Reinders
- Oscar Muller
- César Michelon
- Luís Fabiano
- Georgi Ivanov
- Shabani Nonda
- François Omam-Biyik
- Boubacar Barry
- Laurent Pokou

- John Mensah
- André Simonyi
- Erik van den Boogaard
- Mario Melchiot
- John Utaka
- Kjetil Rekdal
- Jerzy Willim
- Corneliu Papură

- Lamine Diatta
- El-Hadji Diouf
- Erik Edman
- Andreas Isaksson
- Kim Källström
- Alexander Frei
- Marco Grassi

- Goran Pandurović
- Blaž Slišković
- Sylvester Takac
- Zdenko Kobešćak
- Salvador Artigas
- Majid Musisi
:1932-1933
- Mc Cloy:1933-1934
- Josef Pepi Schneider:1934-1936
- Jean Batmale:1936-1939
- François Pleyer:1945-1952
- Salvador Artigas:1952-1955
- Henri Guérin:1955-1961
- Antoine Cuissard:1961-1964
- Jean Prouff:1964-1972
- René Cédolin:1972-1974
- Antoine Cuissard:1974-1976
- Claude Dubaële:1976-1977
- Alain Jubert:1977-1979
- Pierre Garcia:1979-1982
:1982-1984
- Pierre Mosca:1984-1986
- Patrick Rampillon:1987
- Raymond Kéruzoré:1987-1991
- Didier Notheaux:1991-1993
- Michel Le Millinaire:1993-1996
- Yves Colleu:1996-1997
- Guy David:1997-1998
- Paul Le Guen:1998-2001
- Christian Gourcuff:2001-2002
- Philippe Bergeroo:2002
- Vahid Halilhodžić:2002-2003
- Laszlo Bölöni:2003-2006
- Pierre Dréossi:2006-2007
- Guy Lacombe:2007-2009
- Frédéric Antonetti:2009-current
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