Stade Rennais starts the 2025-2026 season with a desire for change after two seasons below its original ambitions. The summer was marked by a series of reshuffles within the management, with the replacement of President Olivier Cloarec by Aarnaud Pouille, coach Jorge Sampoli by Habib Beye, and more recently, sports director Frederic Massara by Loïc Désiré. Désiré, former player of the Stade Brestois and head of recruitment in Strasbourg, has been given the task of restructuring the workforce by reducing it to a more reasonable size (22-24 players), prioritising French recruitment and building a team capable of being in the top third of the championship.

In order to achieve these goals, the club has achieved an important debauchage of players, including Assignon, Truffert, Furuhashi, Matusiwawa and Gronbaek, who have joined European clubs. Other departures are envisaged, although only a few loan returns, such as Rieder, Salah, Santamaria and Yildirim, have been recorded for the time being. This workforce renewal policy aims to bring freshness and competitiveness to the team.

The Rennes team resumed training on 30 June and conducted an internship in Dinard, including cohesion activities. They started their preparations with a draw against Saint-Brieuc (N1) and planned a series of friendly matches against Brest, Nantes, Real Sociedad and Genoa. The regular season will start with a home game against Olympique de Marseille, a major challenge for the Rennes team.