RC Strasbourg: A season of transition
RC Strasbourg were close to a double last season under Gary O'Neil, but the current campaign looks rather more difficult. Here's an early look at their prospects with the Ligue 1 McDonald's team
Major ABSENCES
Two friendly matches into their preseason, and things aren't looking great for RC Strasbourg. In a pair of games in Portugal they were first humbled by Sporting Club de Portugal 7-0 on Monday before falling to Championship side Blackburn Rovers today, 2-0. Granted, the English club start competitive play in two weeks, and are necessarily further along in their preseason, but Sporting Club (who also beat Monaco today) were without several key players owing to the World Cup.
That was true for Racing as well -- Diego Moreira, Guéla Doué, Julio Enciso, Gessime Yassine and Samir El Mourabet were all still absent following the competition, and they were also without Valentín Barco, who is expected to depart the club, to say nothing of Mike Penders and Emmanuel Emegha, who both moved to Chelsea. All of this gives new manager Hugo Oliveira plenty to sort through, even if he'll have a boost to his squad with those returning players soon enough.
🔚 Full time in Portugal 🔚#RCSAROV 0-2 pic.twitter.com/OFe5BEQVg5
— Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace English (@RCSA_English) July 25, 2026
A respected manager, but raw talent
Oliveira made his name in the Portuguese league, helping Famalicão to fifth placce with a somewhat young squad sprinkled with a few veterans. He definitely has that at Strasbourg -- only Ben Chilwell is older than 24 within the first team, but his roster also lacks much experience in Europe's top leagues, especially if Moreira and Doué depart as is expected. He's also without a recognized striker until the return of Joaquín Panichelli, but the Argentine -- coming off an ACL injury -- isn't expected back until the turn of the year at best.
While the returning players -- Enciso in particular -- will boost the squad, it will be up to Oliveira to work with the players he has on improvement from within, particularly in midfield as the likes of Maxi Oyedele, Mathis Amougou and new signing Diogo Sousa will be looked to accelerate their development. This isn't to say there's not plenty of anticipation, but to expect the sort of displays fans of the club have grown accustomed to in recent seasons under Liam Rosenior and Gary O'Neil might be asking too much for the immediate future. Given the paucity of spending by the likes of Brest, Angers, Le Mans, Troyes and Le Havre, it's hard to imagine the Alsatians going down this season, but being in the race for Europe also seems unlikely
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