Brest’s ‘magic’ rise from amateur football to Champions League

In Brittany, north-west France, football is a cultural driving force.

Thanks to eight-time French champions Nantes, and Rennes, whose academy has produced France stars like Eduardo Camavinga and Ousmane Dembele, it has always had a fierce reputation.

But after living in the shadow of their more dominant neighbours, Stade Brestois 29 achieved something remarkable last season: Champions League qualification.

After four matches, they are fourth in the table with three wins and a draw, while their 10 points is more than the totals of seasoned campaigners Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.

Over the past 33 years, Brest have fought back from the financial wilderness.

Like Bordeaux are experiencing now, Brest faced a spell in the amateur leagues after financially overextending themselves and collapsing.

In fact, Brest existed in those ranks between 1991 and 2004 before turning professional again.

Following promotion to Ligue 1 in 2019, Brest survived on a small budget with facilities that were hardly fit for purpose.

One local journalist described their stadium as “from the Middle Ages” – a new one is in the works – while a source describes Brest as “the end of the world in a football city”.

People are said to pride themselves on “character, humility and hard work”, and those qualities resurrected the club in its darkest hour.

After struggling for five years, many expected them to go down last season. Instead, they finished third.

‘This club is not supposed to be in the first division’

In some ways, the heroics of 2023-24 caused headaches within the club.

Brest’s modest ground – Stade Francis-Le Ble – does not meet Uefa standards so they must play their European home games in Guingamp, 70 miles away.

But the fairytale nature of their rise is not lost on everyone involved.

“It is a magic story,” Yann Pondaven, podcaster with ‘Brest on Air’, tells BBC Sport.

“People say, ‘look at Girona, look at Bologna, look at Brest, it is the same’. No, you need to understand; come and see the stadium, the training facilities. This is a club that is not supposed to play in the first division.”

In their Champions League campaign, Brest have beaten Austrian sides Sturm Graz and Red Bull Salzburg, 2-1 and 4-0 respectively, drawn 1-1 with German champions Bayer Leverkusen and on Wednesday defeated Sparta Prague 2-1 away from home.

Real Madrid and Barcelona are still to come in the new league phase, but Pondaven says the pressure is already off.

“It was stressful [against Sturm Graz], because they were the team on our level,” he says. “But we won.

“Then we had the first away game in Salzburg. We didn’t care about the result. Maybe it sounds like a lack of ambition, but we won a Champions League game. We were quite happy. Now is just a bonus.

“Real Madrid is the biggest club in the world. It is a game you play on Fifa or Football Manager. It shouldn’t happen but it will.”

The 15-time European champions visit on January 29. Next month, Brest go to the Nou Camp.

‘The story is written by people from Brest’

There is plenty of pride in Brest, but very little ego.

Denis Le Saint, club president since 2016, is a local businessman, while the party in the city after Brest secured their Champions League place with a 3-0 win at Toulouse was one for the ages.

“Most of the staff comes from Brest,” Pondaven says. “Many of them played for the club and joined the staff. The coaches and physios have been here for 20 years.

“The story is written by people from Brest. Money doesn’t matter, we are doing it through people from our city for our club. That’s it.”

Inside the club, realism concerning the future is evident.

Gregory Lorenzi, the sporting director since 2017, has created a harmonious environment with just 50 administrative staff and a small playing squad.

Eric Roy’s appointment as manager last season was a complete surprise. He had been out of management for a decade after leaving Nice, working as a consultant at Watford briefly in 2019 but mainly as a pundit on French TV.

“Last season was a one-off. It isn’t Brest’s objective at this point, challenging PSG and for the Champions League spots,” says Luke Entwistle, editor-in-chief at Get French Football News.

“They were playing it by ear and that worked for them. In the larger scheme of things, it wants to be an upper-mid-table Ligue 1 side; between sixth and 10th is a good place to consolidate.”

On the pitch, a team was built through the signings of experienced heads with a point to prove and by doing shrewd business by bringing players from the lower divisions.

Former Huddersfield Town striker Steve Mounie led the line before moving to German club Augsburg, supported by ex-Norwich City midfielder Pierre Lees-Melou.

“Lees-Melou outplayed Kylian Mbappe last season, in terms of his consistency,” Entwistle adds.

“He was the most important player to any single club in Ligue 1 by many metrics.  Lots of their recruitment is Franco-centric – not necessarily French, but from the domestic market.

“Brest don’t do big deals, they look at risk-free options. That is not all that common in France because French teams are known for developing their own talents.

“But they don’t have the reputation or facilities of Rennes or Nantes. They are the small fish in the big pond of Brittany.”

‘Stability is the most important thing’

Key players like Mounie and Martin Satriano – a Uruguayan forward who joined on loan from Inter Milan – have departed, while Lees-Melou and highly rated defender Bradley Locko are struggling with injuries.

But Brest have started fairly well domestically, albeit not by the extremely high standards they set last term.

With three wins in their first seven games, they sit 11th.

Ongoing uncertainty around Ligue 1 broadcasting rights and the warnings of what happened two decades ago means they will not spend too much in order to stay competitive.

“We want to keep living this dream as much as possible,” Pondaven says.

“But the stadium will be ready for 2027 or 2028; we need to stay in Ligue 1 until then. After, we can try and climb the ladder and become a team who can challenge for Europe every year.

“Stability is the most importantly thing.”

Brest may have stunned the world to compete as footballing Davids against the Goliaths of the game, but they will not forget what matters at the heart of the club.