Cesson-Sévigné

Cesson-Sévigné is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department, in Brittany, north-western France, and part of Rennes Métropole, of which it is an eastern neighbouring town. Known as a 'garden city', it grew from a small rural town in the 1960s to around 18,000 inhabitants today, in steady expansion. It is also a major employment and innovation hub — home to the Atalante technology park and the campus of the telecommunications school (now IMT Atlantique) — combining a well-tended residential setting with a dynamic economic fabric.

Sport is everywhere in the life of Cesson-Sévigné, and its flagship is Cesson Rennes Métropole Handball. Founded in 1968, the club competes in the top division of French handball and plays its matches at the Glaz Arena. The town has made high-level sport part of its identity, with three centres of excellence — athletics, canoe-kayak and handball — and a municipal policy of sport for all; it was also a 'Terre de Jeux' host and a preparation centre for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

In 2025, after an assessment by a European jury, ACES named Cesson-Sévigné European Town of Sport 2026, a recognition of the quality of its facilities, the vibrancy of its associative fabric and its policies of inclusion and health through sport. With this designation, Cesson-Sévigné joins the European network of ACES cities that celebrate sport as an engine of health, community and inclusion.