From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match16 Sep 2026
A 4‑0 win over Red Star, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.12, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The match ball belongs to Eliezer Mayenda, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Eliezer Mayenda, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.15
A mark of 8.15 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match19 Sep 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Stade Rennais have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Valentin Rongier and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Eliezer Mayenda has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Ludovic Blas at his very best
Marked 8.46. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Stade Rennais.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.52, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad14 Sep 2026
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Alidu Seidu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Issa Soumaré falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
13 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Adrien Thomasson’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Stade Rennais needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Stade Rennais until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The window shuts on the Rémy Descamps deal
Stade Rennais ran out of time with Olympique Lyonnais. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Brice Samba was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match5 Sep 2026
FC Lorient left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Stade Rennais training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arnaud Nordin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Mathieu Schmitt left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Ludovic Blas makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Olympique Lyonnais; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tours have kept their man, and Stade Rennais go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Adrien Thomasson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Monaco, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.21, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad31 Aug 2026
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Stade Rennais
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Mathieu Schmitt kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Moscow have kept their man, and Stade Rennais go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Adrien Thomasson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match22 Aug 2026
Three points for Stade Rennais, 2‑0 the final word against FC Nantes in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Ludovic Blas at his very best
Marked 8.43. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Stade Rennais.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.27 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Stade Rennais training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Issa Soumaré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mathieu Schmitt on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Dee-Shawn Jacinthe
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Stade Rennais offered $17.7M; LOSC Lille said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. PSV have kept their man, and Stade Rennais go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Adrien Thomasson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Boukary Coulibaly and Stade Rennais agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dee-Shawn Jacinthe, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Stade Rennais training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eliezer Mayenda is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Stade Rennais say no to the training-ground money
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
Looking ahead17 Aug 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Adrien Thomasson’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Stade Rennais needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Lovre Rogić wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Stade Rennais have no good answer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Stade Rennais have gone to LOSC Lille with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Stade Rennais offered $12.4M; Monaco said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Market10 Aug 2026
Ludovic Blas wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Stade Rennais hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Adrien Thomasson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dee-Shawn Jacinthe and Stade Rennais agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Esteban Lepaul, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paris Saint-Germain have kept their man, and Stade Rennais go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
The offer went to Monaco this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Market3 Aug 2026
Angers SCO come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Stade Rennais did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Stade Rennais heard it as anything else.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Adrien Thomasson and Stade Rennais agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stade Rennais this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Stade Rennais training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Issa Soumaré is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Stade Rennais are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.