By Zach Lowy
However, even if they beat Ligue 1’s perennial champions and end their long-anticipated trophy drought, the 2024/25 season could end in calamity for Les Rouges et Blancs.
Founded in 1931, Reims’ halcyon days came in the middle of the 20th century when they won six Ligue 1 titles between 1949 and 1962 and reached the European Cup (now Champions League) Final in 1956 and 1959. They would spend three decades hovering between France’s second and third divisions before ascending to the top-flight in 2012, only to be relegated in 2016. Reims returned in 2018 and finished eighth and fifth in Ligue 1, thus qualifying for Europe for the first time in 58 years, where they would fall to Hungarian side Fehérvár at the first time of asking.
They regressed to 14th and 12th before enjoying a renaissance under Will Still, who avoided defeat in his first 17 matches en route to an 11th-place finish in 2022/23. Still departed his post on May 2, 2024, with Samba Diawara taking the reins for the final weeks and guiding them to ninth in the table.
Expectations were high for new manager Luka Elsner, who had steered Le Havre to promotion and staved off relegation in Ligue 1 during his two years in Normandy. Initially, it seemed the Slovenian was an astute replacement, with Reims winning four of their first seven matches and holding PSG and Marseille to stalemates. Reims proceeded to lose three in a row before beating Le Havre 3-0 on November 10. Little did they know it, but Reims would have to wait another 139 days before their next Ligue 1 victory, by which time Elsner had already been replaced by Diawara, this time on a permanent basis.
Reims are one of many French clubs that were left in the lurch by a botched TV deal with Mediapro, who agreed to pay Ligue 1 clubs €3.25 billion over four seasons, only to renege on their payments after a couple of months in 2020. As a result, Reims have been forced to sell their best players each window and start from scratch. For a while, they seemed to be doing just fine; when they sold top scorer Boulaye Dia to Villarreal, they replaced him with youth product Hugo Ekitiké, before selling Ekitiké to PSG for top dollar and seamlessly replacing him with Arsenal loanee Folarin Balogun.
However, it seems that Reims’ oasis of readymade replacements has dried up, with the club struggling to find adequate surrogates for essential starters like Azor Matusiwa (sold to Rennes in January 2024 for €15.50m), Amir Richardson (sold to Fiorentina in August 2024 for €9m) and Emmanuel Agbadou and Marshall Munetsi (sold to Wolves in January 2025 for a combined €38m).
“Reims suffers from financial issues and constantly sells its best players in order to survive,” stated Reims supporter @Rheims_. “The blame is shared between the directors of Stade de Reims and the directors of the Ligue de Football Professionnelle, who failed to manage the COVID-19 financial crisis and the TV rights fiasco. Reims would have done better to drastically reduce salaries, bonuses, and agent commissions than continue to live beyond its means. Relegation to Ligue 2 could be financially catastrophic: we could follow the same fate as Bordeaux. You can’t stay in the second division when you’re losing so much money each year.”
Having operated in a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 under Elsner, Reims have shifted towards an ultra-defensive 5-4-1 formation under Diawara, who, despite boasting a decade of experience as an assistant, has only coached 21 matches in his career (all with Reims). They’ve managed to shore things up defensively thanks in large part to the shot-stopping heroics of Yehvann Diouf, who sits atop Ligue 1 for Goals Prevented (15.9), but they haven’t been able to find the attacking potency to win games – only Angers (32) and Montpellier (23) have scored fewer goals than Reims (33).
And after losing their last three matches, Reims finished 16th and were forced into the dreaded Ligue 1 promotion/relegation playoff vs. Metz, the team who finished third in Ligue 2. They looked headed for a fourth straight defeat after conceding to Matthieu Udol before the break, only to equalise afterwards as Cédric Kipre headed home from a free kick to secure a 1-1 draw in the first leg on Wednesday.
“Reims have usually been able to buy talented players, but over the last two seasons, they have failed to recruit the players that would enable them to play at the top of the table,” added @Rheims_. “We were destined to finish between 10th and 14th place, and although we started the season well, we lost confidence after some poor results. Then, the sales of Agbadou, our best defensive player and a real team leader, and Munetsi did nothing to help the situation. We lost the little experience we had in the squad, and the replacements are finding it hard to perform at their level. Despite all this, the club never expected to finish in 16th place. There was a certain amount of arrogance on everyone’s part because we thought we’d achieve our objectives, which ended up being a huge mistake.”
Similarly to Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, Reims’ horrific domestic form has paled in comparison to their cup form, knocking out fourth-tier side Cannes in the semifinals and reaching their first cup final since 1977. Having held PSG to a stalemate in four of their last five meetings, they might pose a threat to Les Parisiens at the Stade de France, but it’s undeniable that most of their focus will remain on the second leg in Reims. Diawara admitted as much, stating, “It’s the nightmare scenario…for me, the final takes second place [to the playoff].” Diouf echoed his manager’s thoughts, arguing, “Clearly, it will be difficult to focus on the final. I wasn’t thinking about it until safety was assured. I’m not going to say that I don’t want to play it, but it will leave a slightly bitter taste.”
Reims find themselves at risk of following in the footsteps of Wigan Athletic, who won the FA Cup and were relegated from the Premier League in 2013; they haven’t returned ever since and just finished 15th in League One. Due to the scope of their financial issues, a similar fate could befall Reims should they lose to Metz on Thursday.
And as such, Diawara and his players face a head-scratching conundrum. Should they put in 100% effort into beating PSG, who are eyeing a record-extending 16th Coupe de France title? Should they leave everything on the pitch and pour their sweat and blood throughout 90 or potentially 120+ minutes? Should they capture their moment and etch their names into the history books? Or should they let it slip and put all their eggs into one basket: that of avoiding a costly relegation to Ligue 2?
Stay tuned for what promises to be a heart-palpitating week for Stade de Reims and its fanbase.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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