Stade Rennes - Valenciennes : The History

The Opposition

FC Valenciennes was founded in 1913, before being renamed US Valenciennes-Anzin three years later. In the early days of professionalism, the Nordist club was first entered in the second division, before quickly reaching the French top flight. In 1951, the US Valenciennes Anzin reached the Coupe de France final, suffering a heavy loss to RC Strasbourg, 3 goals to 0. The club would go on to know their best ever period in the 1960, finishing third placed in the league in two occasions in 1964/1965 and 1965/1966. Over the following few years, like the Stade Rennais FC, VA spent numerous years travelling up and down between the first and second division.

The 1990s would mark a difficult era in the Nord club’s history. 18th in the league during the 1992/1993 league season, Valenciennes was yet again relegated to second division. Worse, the Valenciennes club was involved in the infamous “VA-OM” corruption scandal, receiving a heavy punishment for their role in the affair. The traumatism was big, VA was relegated in National (3rd tier) a year later after finishing 20th of the Super D2 (Involving 22 clubs on that season). The Valenciennes team kept on sinking helplessly until eventually filing for bankruptcy in 1996. The club was relegated administratively to the CFA (4th tier). Following the descent, the USVA became Valenciennes FC. The club from the North of France would only re-emerge during the 2004-2005 season. Valenciennes won the National division and went on to snatch the Ligue 2 champion title a year later. Goals galore by Steve Savidan offered VA a return to Ligue 1, 14 years after their last relegation. Since then the club remains in the top flight each season, always on the lower half of the Ligue 1 table.

In terms of silverware, except for two second division champion titles in 1972 and 2006, the North club’s trophy cabinet is rather empty. However, and despite the lack of major titles, Valenciennes remain one of the historical clubs in Ligue 1 (30 seasons at this level). Some big names of French and European football have played for the Hainaut club. Didier Six, Dominique Dropsy, Kálmán Kovács, Roger Milla, Włodzimierz “Wlodek” Lubański, Jorge Luis Burruchaga, or more recently Steve Savidan have written the finest pages in the club’s history.

Previous Meetings

In Ligue 1 (since 1932), 20 games have been played at the Stade de la Route de Lorient between the teams, with a general balance favourable to Rennes. The “Rouge et Noir” won ten times, against four Valenciennes victories.
A positive summary for Rennes, but it should not be forgotten that Valenciennes came to win in Rennes during the 1993-1994 Coupe de France (1-1 after extra-time) on penalty shoot-outs, and in the 2007 Coupe de la Ligue, a 2-0 victory thanks to goals by Mody Traoré et Grégory Pujol.

However, since VA returned to the top flight, Rennes often had big difficulties to see off their opponent. In 2007, Romain Danzé scored his first Ligue 1 goal and allowed Rennes to win on the narrowest of margins (1-0). The following year, a goal by Sylvain Wiltord in the last fifteen minutes offered Guy Lacombe’s team a short but important success (1-0).

During the 2008-2009 season, the teams parted on a scoreless draw, but the game was sadly remembered for one particular incident, the aggression of Valencienne’s Lacourt by Kader Mangane. The Rennes defender’s logical dismissal changed the run of the game. In a power-play situation, Valenciennes remained on top of the encounter, but weren’t able to beat Nicolas Douchez despite several clear chances.

Last season, Valenciennes took the edge over the Breton team. Heavily beaten by three goals to nil, the Stade Rennais was “humiliated”, in manager Frédéric Antonetti’s own words.

- 2009/2010 Season : Douchez - Fanni, Mangane, Hansson (cap.), Bocanegra - M’Vila, Inamoto (Cheyrou, 54’), Lemoine (Pagis, 71’) - Bangoura, Gyan, Marveaux (Kembo Ekoko, 26’).

Summary of Rennes – Valenciennes games in L1 : 20 games, 10 Rennes victories, 6 draws and 4 Valenciennes victories. 29 goals to Rennes, 18 to Valenciennes.
Last Rennes goal scorer (in L1) : Sylvain Wiltord (April 19th, 2008, 78th minute)

Last ten Stade Rennais - Valenciennes in the League

- 2009/10 (L1) : Valenciennes wins 3-0 (Baldé, Ben Khalfallah & Pujol)
- 2008/09 (L1) : Draw 0-0
- 2007/08 (L1) : Rennes wins 1-0 (Wiltord)
- 2006/07 (L1) : Rennes wins 1-0 (Danzé)
- 1993/94 (D2) : Rennes wins 2-1 (GfR : Gourvennec & Roux)
- 1989/90 (D2) : Rennes wins 1-0 (M. Sorin)
- 1988/89 (D2) : Rennes wins 2-0 (P. Delamontagne (2))
- 1987/88 (D2) : Rennes wins 3-1 (GfR : Garaba, L. Delamontagne, Tlemçani)
- 1984/85 (D2) Rennes wins 1-1 (GfR : Bousdira)
- 1982/83 (D2) : Rennes wins 2-1 (GfR : Tischner & Morin)

* Valenciennes, 1979-1980 season

Sources :
- Stade Rennais Online Archives