Former players

Gary Smith turned professional in Falkirk, in the Scottish second division. howeverm, he discovered the high level with Aberdeen, where he won a League Cup in 1995. In 1996, he joined Stade Rennes, who also recruited his compatriot Allan Johnston. Smith played around fifteen matches in central defence during the season, but didn’t really manage to stand out ahead of François Denis and Corneliu Papură. He then returned to Aberdeen, where he spent three seasons, before playing during seven years with Hibernians. in 2006-2007, he ended his professional career with Cowdenbeath in the Scottish third division. A last season in which he spent a few months on loan in Dundee, in second division.

Tony Heurtebis is one of the rare goalkeepers trained by the club to have managed a successful professional career. After two seasons in the shadow of Pandurović, he was promoted to the first goalkeeper position during the 1997-1998 season. But the club’s performances weren’t good during this period, and Heurtebis faced the competition of Christophe Revault the following year. Relegated to the number 2 position, he was loaned and later definitely transferred to Troyes, where he became a full-time Ligue 1 player. He stayed in the Aube during five seasons, only the last being played in Ligue 2. At the end of his contract in the Champagne region, he joined Brest for a year and then signed for FC Nantes. With them, he started on the bench, but became a first-choice goalkeeper when the club fell in L2. After being a major part of the accession in Ligue 1, he returned on the bench once again. He quit the club as a free agent in 2010.

Born Mayotte, Toifilou Maoulida was trained in the south of France, in Istres and later in Montpellier. He began his professional career with the MHSC, where he scored his first goals in Division 1. In January 2002, Stade Rennais was looking for a forward and transferred him, at a time whenre many players from Montpellier joined Brittany. Despites his goods statistics in the Languedoc-Roussillon, Maoulida had difficulties to blossom in Rennes. During the 2002-2003 season he scored eight goals but only three in Ligue 1. A few months later, Stade Rennais loaned the player to Metz in order to give him a new start. It works, the mahorese forward scored a dozen of goals an came back with renewed mental strength . Back in Rennes he faced the competition of Alexander Frei, but succeeded to make his way on the wing to manage his best season in Rennes. At the end of his contract, in june 2005, he decided to join the AS Monaco. Then, Maoulida would have a lot of short experiences, before finally signing in Lens in January 2008.

Trained at Stade Rennes’ Academy, Makhtar N'Diaye was quickly considered as one of the most promising young players at the club. His technical skills convinced Paul Le Guen to give him his first start with the first team at only 17. Unfortunately, the promising player would never really confirm at the highest level. In four seasons, he only started around forty matches as a midfielder. Insufficient for Stade Rennes, which loaned N’Diaye to Sedan for one year, but this experience did not revealed really convincing either. Since Laszlo Bölöni didn’t count on him, N’Diaye was finally released as a free agent in February 2005.

In summer 1996, Stade Rennes recruited two Scottish players. The forward Allan Johnston arrived from Heart of Midlothian, where he had started his professional career. Johnston, as his team-mate and fellow national Smith, leaved the club one year later. In the meantime, he played around twenty matches and scored two goals. He joined Sunderland in 1997, where he stood out and managed to join the Scottish selection a few months later. During seven years, he passed through many clubs of the English first and second divisions, with a one-year interlude with Glasgow Rangers, in which the club from Glasgow didn’t win any title. In 2004, he came back to Scotland for good, playing several seasons with Kilmarnock, and then with St. Mirren. In June 2010, he joined Queen of the South, a club located at Dumfries, in Scottish second division, where he became player manager in June 2011.

Born in Rennes, Jean-Luc Arribart went up the ranks at Stade Rennais all the way up to the first team. During his training, he also won the Gambardella Cup in 1973, one and a half year before the start of his professional career. Versatile, he then evolved equally at midfield or in defence, before settling at the position of centre back. Standing out in first team, Arribart becomes one of the main sports values of a club in the midst of economic turmoil. In 1978, to balance its budget, the Stade Rennais has no other choice but to transfer him, together with Patrick Delamontagne, to the Stade Lavallois. In Mayenne, he confirmed his status of good Division 1 player. And although he dropped to D2 during three years spent in Reims, he later returned to the top flight with Nancy. In 1988, after his final two professional years spent in Orléans then Laval, Arribart put an end to his player's career. He then became a TV consultant, a job in which he became one of the recognized actors. In parallel, between December 1999 and October 2000, he briefly occupied the position of technical director at the RC Lens.

Born in Lorient but trained in Brest, Frédéric Adam had a ringside seat when the the courts ordered for the club from Finistère’s assets to be liquidated in December 1991. However this event offered him the opportunity to start with the first team in division three. Recruited as a professional trainee by Stade Rennes in 1993, Adam would take part in five games during the season 1993-1994, taking part in the promotion to Division One. Free agent in 1995, he joined Chateauroux where he contributed to the promotion of the club in first division in 1997. The end of his carrier is mainly linked to Troyes where he would become a key player of the first team both in first and second division. After two final years playing for Gueugnon, he retired in 2008 and became an advisor for ES Troyes AC’s president._

Born in Rennes, it took a long time to Michel Audrain escaped before he joined the Stade Rennais. After debuting at the Cercle Paul-Bert Guinguené, he joined the SCO Angers at 17, where he made his professional debuts one year later. Convincing, he was recruited by the Girondins de Bordeaux of Aimé Jacquet in 1982. In Aquitaine, he gained two France champion titles, before being transferred to Marseille. Following a one year loan to Laval, he joined the Stade rennais in 1987. Audrain got involved in the challenges of the second division within a team freshly relegated and in full reconstruction under the management of Raymond Keruzoré . Two average seasons later, he landed in Quimper, then later in Annecy, still in D2. In 1992, he put an end to his professional career, but continued as a player-manager with Châteaubriant and then with Notre-Dame-des-Champs near Le Mans. He then went on to take on training duties, joining his former club of Angers in 1994 to take responsibilities at the Academy before managing the reserve team. He occupied relatively similar functions later in Saint-Etienne, Laval then Lorient, before becoming the assistant of Denis Troch at the Stade lavallois in 2005. Having followed the manager in Troyes, he then returned to Laval in 2008 to second Philippe Hinschberger.

Versatile, able to play as a midfielder a centre-back or a right back, Stéphane Mbia become a major player in Rennes during the 2007-2008 season; With great physical qualities, the Cameroon international doesn't hesitate to help in attack whens needed and always remains solid in the one-on-ones. Six years after his arrival in Brittany he was transferred to Olympique de Marseille in July 2009 for a transfer fee of 12 million euros.

Trained at Olympique Lyonnais, Christian Bassila began his Ligue 1 career in 1996, aged 19. Three years later, he was transferred to Stade Rennais and tried to make his way in the Breton midfield. His first season was made with ups and downs, even though he started 21 games. Stade Rennais loaned him in England during the following two years, then again in Strasbourg. The Alsatian club transferred him definitely in 2002. Over there Bassila definitely turned into a first-squad Ligue 1 player. Transferred in 2005 he began an European tour through England, Greece then Germany. In 2008 he came back to France, joining Guingamp. A season in which the French-Congolese managed to win the French Cup as captain of his team...against the Stade Rennais.