Season 2024/2025

The 2024/2025 season for Stade Rennais started with a close season which was notable for the complete restructuring of the squad initiated by newly-arrived Sporting Director, Frédéric Massara, and Manager, Julien Stéphan (who had recently had his contract renewed.) There were numerous international arrivals, in spite of the fact that Rennes were facing their first season in six without European football. On the departures front, Rennes lost a number of their first-team regulars from the previous season. In defence, the Red and Blacks had to contend with the departures of Jeanuël Belocian (Bayer Leverkusen), club captain Hamari Traoré (Real Sociedad), and Guéla Doué (Strasbourg) who all left the club on permanent deals. Added to that Stade Rennais loaned out Warmed Omari to Lyon, Jérémy Jacquet to Clerment, and the Belgian international Arthur Theate to Eintracht Frankfurt. In midfield, the club saw Swiss international Fabien Rieder loaned to Stuttgart, Enzo Le Fée sold to Roma, and within a week of the season starting, Benjamin Bourigeaud (sole remaining member of the team who won the French Cup in 2019) was sold to Al Duhail in Qatar. In attack, Rennes were diminished by the departure of talismanic striker, Martin Terrier (sold to Bayer Leverkusen), the young Turkish international Bertug Yildirim left to sign on loan with Getafe, Matthis Abline rejoined local rivals Nantes after convincing during his loan spell there. Ibrahim Salah joined Stade Brestois on loan, and prodigal son Désiré Doué left for the bright lights of the French capital to sign for Paris Saint Germain.

On the arrivals side of the balance-sheet, Rennes had a considerable North European accent. Welsh international Jordan James signed from Birmingham City, and he was joined by two Danish internationals: Albert Grønbæk (FK Bodø/Glimt) and U20 striker, Henrik Meister (Sarpsborg) Add to that the arrival of Norwegian centre half Leo Østigård (from Napoli), an experienced Dutch defender, Hans Hateboer (from Atalanta Bergamo), and Finnish midfielder Glen Kamara (from Leeds United). The cosmopolitan transfer window also saw the signing of charismatic Portuguese player Jota from Al-Ittihad in Saudi-Arabia, Colombian attacker Carlos Andrés Gomez from Real Salt Lake in the MLS, and the Senegalese defender, Mikayil Faye from Barcelona.

Despite all of these changes, Rennes finished pre-season on form, winning their final warm-up fixtures at Roazhon Park against Real Sociedad and Werder Bremen, and then overwhelmed Olympique Lyonnais on the opening day of thje season with a 3-0 victory, a week later. But that success would prove to be a false dawn for the Red and Blacks, who were unable to string together consecutive victories for the majority of the season. The situation got progressively worse as the season wore on, and after a heavy defeat (0-4) at promoted team Auxerre on 3rd November 2024, Stade Rennais found themselves in 13th in the table, and made the tough decision to part ways with Julien Stéphan. He was replaced by caretaker-manager Sébastien Tambouret for one game, in a 0-2 home loss to Toulouse, before Argentine boss Jorge Sampaoli was recruited to provide an electroshock to a team on the slide. The Winter transfer window brought a wave of departures, notably on loan for players who had mainly arrived in the Summer, but struggled to establish themselves. Grønbæk (Southampton), Østigård (Hoffenheim), Meister (Pisa), Kamara (Al-Shadab) et Santamaria (Nice) were all sent out to get matchtime elsewhere. Rennes also lost Amine Gouiri to Marseille, Jota returned to Celtic, and Frankfurt activated the buyout clause in Arthur Theate's loan deal. At the same time, the Red and Blacks brought in a number of news signings to compensate for all the players leaving. Brice Samba arrived from Lens to take the number 1 shirt from Steve Mandanda, and Seko Fofana returned to France after a disappointing experience in the Saudi Pro League with Al-Nassr.

Rennes made particular changes to reinforce the defence with players who would become stalwarts of the starting line up for the rest of the season. Anthony Rouault signed from Stuttgart, Lilian Brassier returned to his original club from Brest after a complicated spell in Marseille, and Jérémy Jacquet was recalled early from his loan spell with Clermont. In midfield and attack, Stade Rennais took Canadian international Ismaël Koné on loan from Marseille, and purchased two Belgians: Kazeem Olaigbe signed from Cercle Bruges, and Ayanda Sishuba arrived from Hellas Verona in Italy. To complete the merry-go-round, the Breton club added Jordanian Musa Al-Tamara from Montpellier, and the Japonese striker Kyogo Furuhashi from Celtic.

The gamble on firebrand Sampaoli would not pay off, alas, and despite victories against Saint Etienne (5-0) and Angers (2-0) in the league, and a 4-1 win at Bordeaux in the French Cup, Rennes would be dumped out of the cup by Second Division side ESTAC Troyes in the Round of 32, and the club cancelled Sampaoli's contract by mutual consent in a desperate attempt to save their season, and avoid relegation. The Red and Blacks called on Habib Beye, former TV pundit on Canal Plus, and erstwhile manager of Red Star, who he took to promotion to the French Second Division from National 1 to become the fourth coach to sit on the bench that season. Four wins in Beye's first five games in charge, gave the team some much-needed breathing space in relation to the relegation spots, even if the race was far from won. Rennes would then alternate between convincing away wins at Montpellier (4-0), Angers (3-0) and Le Havre (5-1), and disappointing defeats (1-4 against Paris, 1-4 at Lyon, 1-2 at Toulouse, and 2-4 in Marseille on the final day of the season.) The Red and Blacks finished their disappointing season in 12th place in Ligue 1 with 41 points. Rennes' top scorer was Arnaud Kalimuendo, who finished third top scorer in Ligue 1 with 17 of his 18 goals coming in league matches.)