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Stade Rennais (Football club, France)

Flag of Stade Rennais, current and former versions - Images by Ivan Sache, 2 October 2021

Presentation of Stade Rennais
Flag of Stade Rennais
Stade Rennais supporters' flag

See also:

Presentation of Stade Rennais

Stade Rennais (website) was founded in 1901 in Rennes as an athletics and football club. The club lost its first match (to Football Club Rennais (0-6), but took its revenge two years later by winning (4-0) the final of the first Brittany Championship (2nd Series). The two clubs merged on 4 May 1904, adopting the name of Stade Rennais Universitaire Club (SRUC) and the red and black colours from the Football Club Rennais; the new team won the Brittany Championship in 1908 and 1909 but could not challenge the domination of US Servan, winner from 1910 to 1915. The SRUC won in 1916 the Inter-federation Championship (that is, the National Championship) to Lyon (7-1).

Rennes won the Championship of the West in 1919, 1920 and 1921. In 1922, François Hugues was the first club's player to be enrolled by the French national team. The same year, the club lost the final of the French Cup to the Red Star (0-2).
Under the leadership of Jean Odorico (1893-1945), player and then President of the club (also a noted designer and architect), the SRUC adopted the professional status, ranking 6th in the first national professional championship, held in 1932. The club lost again the final of the French Cup to Olympique de Marseille (0-3).
The SRUC eventually won the French Cup in 1965 to Sedan (2-2, 3-1), and, again in 1970 to Lyon (1-0), confirming its fame as a "Cup team".

The football section of the SRUC was renamed Stade Rennais Football Club on 23 May 1972, the SRUC keeping under its name the athletics, basket ball and hockey sections. The 1970-1990s were a very unstable period for the club, which was frequently relegated to the 2nd League and sacked its coach equally as frequently. The situation of the club improved in the 2000s: Stade Rennais ranked 4th in the 1st League in 2005, the club's best result ever.
Rennes lost in 2009 and, again, in 2014, the "Breton final" of the French Cup to En Avant de Guingamp (1-2 and 0-2, respectively).

More than 20 players of the Stade Rennais have been members of the French national team. The most famous of them are the midfielder Jean Prouff (1919-2008, 17 caps in 1946-1949, "Coach of the Century" of Stade Rennais, 1964-1972), the defender Henri Guérin (1921-1995; 3 caps in 1948-1949, then coach of Stade Rennais [1955-1961] and of the French national team [1962-1966]); and the striker Jean Grumelon (1923-1991, 10 caps in 1949-1952, best scorer ever of Stade Rennais [154 goals]).

Ivan Sache, 20 May 2014

Flag of Stade Rennais

The flag of Stade Rennais (photo, photo, photo, photo, photo, photo) is red with the club's emblem in the center. The club's former flag (photo, video) was the flag of Brittany defaced with the club's emblem.

The emblem of Stade Rennais (history) is made of a shield outlined in yellow and vertically divided black-red. In the upper part of the shield is placed an heptagon vertically divided red-black, inscribing two white ermines holding a white ball bordered in red (left) and black (right). In the lower part of the shield is the white lettering "STADE RENNAIS / FOOTBALL CLUB / 1901".
This is a simplification of the emblem designed in 2001 for the celebration of the centenary of the club, which had the heptagon surmounted by the golden writing "CENTENAIRE" (underlined) and surrounded by the golden years "1901" and "2001". The third line beneath the shield was made of the black writing "fondé en 1901" placed on a white rectangle.
The ermines holding a ball were first featured on the emblem designed in 1970. Here the ball and the outlines are golden, and the club's name is written in golden letters in a black cartouche surmounting the shield. The emblem was simplified in 1994, the shield being all red, the ball black and white, and the writing "Stade Rennais F.C." placed in the upper part of the shield. The heptagonal shape appeared in 1997, as a stand-alone emblem (no shield) surmounting the black writing "STADE RENNAIS / FOOTBALL CLUB".

Ivan Sache, 2 October 2021

Stade Rennais supporter's flags

Supporters' flag - Image by Ivan Sache, 20 May 2014

A variant of the official flag, vertically divided red-black, with the club's emblem in the middle, is also used (photo).

Supporters' flag - Image by Ivan Sache, 20 May 2014

The club's webstore sells a black flag with a red diagonal stripe, the club's emblem in the middle, and two red ermine spots in canton and fly, respectively (image).
Another club's flag, re-sold as "produced under official license" but seemingly no longer sold by the club, is white with a black cross, charged in the middle with a black-and-white version of the club's emblem (photo).

Supporters' flag - Image by Ivan Sache, 6 January 1999

According to P. Rault (Les drapeaux bretons de 1188 à nos jours [rau98]), supporters of Stade Rennais have designed the Ruz-ha-Du (Red and Black) by colouring in red the white parts of the <Gwenn-ha-Du.

Ivan Sache, 20 May 2014