By Zach Lowy
Nevertheless, even when they beat Ligue 1’s perennial champions and finish their long-anticipated trophy drought, the 2024/25 season might finish in calamity for Les Rouges et Blancs.
Based in 1931, Reims’ halcyon days got here in the course of the twentieth century once they received six Ligue 1 titles between 1949 and 1962 and reached the European Cup (now Champions League) Closing in 1956 and 1959. They’d spend three many years hovering between France’s second and third divisions earlier than ascending to the top-flight in 2012, solely to be relegated in 2016. Reims returned in 2018 and completed eighth and fifth in Ligue 1, thus qualifying for Europe for the primary time in 58 years, the place they might fall to Hungarian facet Fehérvár on the first time of asking.
They regressed to 14th and twelfth earlier than having fun with a renaissance below Will Nonetheless, who prevented defeat in his first 17 matches en path to an Eleventh-place end in 2022/23. Nonetheless departed his publish on Could 2, 2024, with Samba Diawara taking the reins for the ultimate weeks and guiding them to ninth within the desk.
Expectations have been excessive for brand spanking new supervisor Luka Elsner, who had steered Le Havre to promotion and staved off relegation in Ligue 1 throughout his two years in Normandy. Initially, it appeared the Slovenian was an astute alternative, with Reims profitable 4 of their first seven matches and holding PSG and Marseille to stalemates. Reims proceeded to lose three in a row earlier than beating Le Havre 3-0 on November 10. Little did they understand it, however Reims must wait one other 139 days earlier than their subsequent Ligue 1 victory, by which era Elsner had already been changed by Diawara, this time on a everlasting foundation.
Reims are one in all many French golf equipment that have been left within the lurch by a botched TV take care of Mediapro, who agreed to pay Ligue 1 golf equipment €3.25 billion over 4 seasons, solely to renege on their funds after a few months in 2020. Because of this, Reims have been pressured to promote their greatest gamers every window and begin from scratch. For some time, they gave the impression to be doing simply positive; once they offered high scorer Boulaye Dia to Villarreal, they changed him with youth product Hugo Ekitiké, earlier than promoting Ekitiké to PSG for high greenback and seamlessly changing him with Arsenal loanee Folarin Balogun.
Nevertheless, plainly Reims’ oasis of readymade replacements has dried up, with the membership struggling to seek out ample surrogates for important starters like Azor Matusiwa (offered to Rennes in January 2024 for €15.50m), Amir Richardson (offered to Fiorentina in August 2024 for €9m) and Emmanuel Agbadou and Marshall Munetsi (offered to Wolves in January 2025 for a mixed €38m).
“Reims suffers from monetary points and consistently sells its greatest gamers so as to survive,” said Reims supporter @Rheims_. “The blame is shared between the administrators of Stade de Reims and the administrators of the Ligue de Soccer Professionnelle, who didn’t handle the COVID-19 monetary disaster and the TV rights fiasco. Reims would have carried out higher to drastically scale back salaries, bonuses, and agent commissions than proceed to stay past its means. Relegation to Ligue 2 could possibly be financially catastrophic: we might observe the identical destiny as Bordeaux. You possibly can’t keep within the second division if you’re shedding a lot cash every year.”
Having operated in a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 below Elsner, Reims have shifted in the direction of an ultra-defensive 5-4-1 formation below Diawara, who, regardless of boasting a decade of expertise as an assistant, has solely coached 21 matches in his profession (all with Reims). They’ve managed to shore issues up defensively thanks largely to the shot-stopping heroics of Yehvann Diouf, who sits atop Ligue 1 for Targets Prevented (15.9), however they haven’t been capable of finding the attacking efficiency to win video games – solely Angers (32) and Montpellier (23) have scored fewer targets than Reims (33).
And after shedding their final three matches, Reims completed sixteenth and have been pressured into the dreaded Ligue 1 promotion/relegation playoff vs. Metz, the crew who completed third in Ligue 2. They regarded headed for a fourth straight defeat after conceding to Matthieu Udol earlier than the break, solely to equalise afterwards as Cédric Kipre headed dwelling from a free kick to safe a 1-1 draw within the first leg on Wednesday.
“Reims have often been in a position to purchase gifted gamers, however during the last two seasons, they’ve didn’t recruit the gamers that might allow them to play on the high of the desk,” added @Rheims_. “We have been destined to complete between tenth and 14th place, and though we began the season nicely, we misplaced confidence after some poor outcomes. Then, the gross sales of Agbadou, our greatest defensive participant and an actual crew chief, and Munetsi did nothing to assist the state of affairs. We misplaced the little expertise we had within the squad, and the replacements are discovering it arduous to carry out at their degree. Regardless of all this, the membership by no means anticipated to complete in sixteenth place. There was a specific amount of conceitedness on everybody’s half as a result of we thought we’d obtain our targets, which ended up being an enormous mistake.”
Equally to Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, Reims’ horrific home type has paled compared to their cup type, knocking out fourth-tier facet Cannes within the semifinals and reaching their first cup closing since 1977. Having held PSG to a stalemate in 4 of their final 5 conferences, they may pose a menace to Les Parisiens on the Stade de France, nevertheless it’s simple that the majority of their focus will stay on the second leg in Reims. Diawara admitted as a lot, stating, “It’s the nightmare state of affairs…for me, the ultimate takes second place [to the playoff].” Diouf echoed his supervisor’s ideas, arguing, “Clearly, it is going to be tough to give attention to the ultimate. I wasn’t enthusiastic about it till security was assured. I’m not going to say that I don’t need to play it, however it would go away a barely bitter style.”
Reims discover themselves susceptible to following within the footsteps of Wigan Athletic, who received the FA Cup and have been relegated from the Premier League in 2013; they haven’t returned ever since and simply completed fifteenth in League One. Because of the scope of their monetary points, an identical destiny might befall Reims ought to they lose to Metz on Thursday.
And as such, Diawara and his gamers face a head-scratching conundrum. Ought to they put in 100% effort into beating PSG, who’re eyeing a record-extending sixteenth Coupe de France title? Ought to they go away every part on the pitch and pour their sweat and blood all through 90 or doubtlessly 120+ minutes? Ought to they seize their second and etch their names into the historical past books? Or ought to they let it slip and put all their eggs into one basket: that of avoiding a pricey relegation to Ligue 2?
Keep tuned for what guarantees to be a heart-palpitating week for Stade de Reims and its fanbase.
(Cowl picture from IMAGO)
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