SEO title: Franck Haise takes Rennes to Sturm Graz seeking first Europa League win
SEO description: Stade Rennais begin their 2026-27 Europa League campaign in Austria, where coach Franck Haise aims to end a 16-match winless record in the competition.
Under the lights in Graz, Franck Haise will carry a difficult European statistic into Stade Rennais’ first Europa League night of the 2026-27 campaign. Rennes face Sturm Graz in Austria on Wednesday at 21:00, with their coach still searching for his first victory in the competition after 16 attempts.
Franck Haise and Rennes begin in Austria
Haise arrived in Ille-et-Vilaine in February and has quickly produced strong domestic results. His Ligue 1 record with Rennes stands at 11 wins, two draws and three defeats.
Europe has been far less forgiving for the 55-year-old, especially in the Europa League. His sequence began with Lens in 2023-24, when a play-off tie against Freiburg for a place in the round of 16 ended with one draw and one defeat.
His subsequent Europa League experience at Nice was harsher still: 14 matches across two seasons, three draws and 11 losses. Haise has lost each of his last eight games in the competition.
Including two Champions League qualifying defeats with Nice, he has gone 19 continental matches without a win. The contrast is sharp with his earlier Champions League campaign at Lens, where his side beat Arsenal 2-1 and Sevilla 2-1 in the 2023-24 league phase.
The move
Rennes have returned to European football after a two-season absence, and their trip to the Graz-Liebenau Stadium is a first chance to give their campaign momentum.
Haise refused to frame the occasion as personal revenge when asked about his Europa League record on Tuesday. He said every spell had its own circumstances and insisted his focus remained on the work being done by the current Rennes group.
“I do not go to bed looking at all the matches my teams have won, or everything we have done well,” Haise said. “And I do not go to bed thinking that we absolutely have to do this or that. I look at the work we are doing with the group and the team, the areas in which we are improving, and the confidence I have in them.
“That is what matters most. Whether I have won or lost, I know I will win matches with them. There is no doubt about it.”
The French season around it
For Haise, the main lesson from his European setbacks is not superstition but the level of difficulty. He stressed that continental ties demand more than ordinary league fixtures, with away matches raising the requirement again.
“Every European match is difficult,” he said. “It is already true in Ligue 1. I have coached 250 Ligue 1 matches and won one or two,” he added with a laugh. “To win matches, you have to bring many things. In European competition, whatever the tournament, you need even more — and away from home, more again.”
The message is a clear warning for a Rennes squad eager to return to continental competition. They will not be alone in Austria: 123 Rennes supporters have made the demanding journey to Graz-Liebenau.
