Tomas KOUBEK

On 28th August 2017, Stade Rennais signed the goalkeeper Tomas Koubek from Sparta Prague for around 3 Million Euros. This huge Czech international keeper (1.98m) arrived with the characteristics which were deemed to be missing in Rennes goal: leadership and the will to win. Before his arrival, Stade Rennais’ season had started with Abdoulaye Diallo in goal as Number 1. Excellent in his first season, where his errors were more than made up for by decisive inspirational displays, he had a large hand in the club’s qualification for the Europa League in Spring 2018. But he got off to a bad start to the 2018/2019 season, and temporarily lost his number 1 spot to Diallo. But like the whole team, he raised his game to reach a peak in the decisive games in the Europa League and the French Cup. Out of the three penalty shoot-outs faced during the season, he was victorious in two of them (after being the unfortunate 11th penalty taker in their League Cup exit.) His last shoot-out came in the French Cup Final against Paris Saint Germain, where his victorious sprint and his great performance on the night will go down forever in the club’s history. Having played his last game for the club in the Champions Trophy (French equivalent of the Charity Shield), he signed for Augsburg in the German Bundesliga on 5th August 2019 for 7 Million Euros, and not without feeling a deep sadness at leaving the club which has given him so much joy.