Ligue 1 is starting a new season this weekend, with a Breton derby between Stade Rennais and FC Lorient, this Sunday August 7, at Roazhon Park. On the occasion of the recovery, France bleu looks back on the adventures of Breton football over the past 20 years.
Five clubs, two atmospheres
FC Nantes*, Stade Rennais, EA Guingamp, FC Lorient and Stade Brestois did not enter the 21st century as equals. In terms of awards, the people of Nantes left with a head start but the balance sheet has been tighter since 2000. The former Breton capital won the Coupe de France that year, Ligue 1 the following year, before experiencing a shortage of more than 20 years, until 2022.
Apart from Stade Brestois, all the other clubs have won the Coupe de France at least once over the past 20 years: FC Lorient in 2002, EA Guingamp in 2009 and 2014 then Stade Rennais in 2019 after a crazy match in the final against Paris-Saint-Germain, whose adventures we never tire of reliving.
The gap also widens between the clubs of the two capitals and the others when we look at expenses per season (detailed on the map below). Starting in the lead in the early 2000s, FC Nantes drastically reduced its budget during the descent to Ligue 2 and since its return to the top flight, the Loire club has never exceeded its rival from Ille-et-Vilaine.
FC Nantes vs Stade Rennais, a derby that is gaining momentum
Breton derby or Western derby*, the opposition between Nantes and Rennes began in the 1950s, the day after the creation of FC Nantes. The nascent rivalry turns to the advantage of Nantes in the following decade, until the beginning of the 21st century. Since then, the Rennais have dominated.
The turning point took place in January 2006. Stade Rennais won at the Beaujoire stadium for the first time in its history and for the first time on Nantes soil since 1964, a 3-2 victory at Stade Malakoff. FCN had to wait 14 years and a 1-0 victory, in September 2019, before they could celebrate another success at home.
If 2006 is a turning point in the derby, the break is a year earlier in the competition for the classification in the elite. In 2005, FC Nantes began crossing the desert which, despite a return to Ligue 1 nine years ago, has not yet ended in the league. The eight-time champion is no more than a shadow of himself, a club in the middle or bottom of the table, going so far as to come close to a new relegation.
For its part, Stade Rennais has offered, for 20 years, great regularity in its results and regularly touches the podium, before climbing the third step, in 2020. Good rankings which allow the Bretons to play in the European Cup. Even if they chain premature eliminations, the competition allows fans to vibrate against European clubs, such as Arsenal in 2019 and Leicester City this year.
Like this match in September 2013 where Rennes supporters had invaded the field to claim a stolen tifo from their Nantes counterparts, each meeting between the two clubs arouses a lot of ridicule, like the last derby in Saint-Nazaire, last week, although friendly.
*Note: Nantes has not been in the Brittany region since 1956 but the club is referred to as “Breton” in this article because it retains a Breton heritage and an important part of Breton identity, claimed by its management team which gave a place of honor for the ermine on its coat of arms.
Guingamp at the heart of Breton rivalries
More than a rivalry it is a grudge that opposed the supporters of the clubs of Guingamp and Brest following the liquidation of the Finistère club in December 1991, seen by the Brestois as a sabotage of Noël le Graët, who had left the head of EA Guingamp three months earlier to become CEO of the Professional Football League.
When they returned to the professional team, 13 years later, Stade Brestois found the Costa Rican club in Ligue 2. For six seasons, the two Breton teams fought a fierce battle: five draws, four Guingamp wins, three Brest wins. In 2009, EA Guingamp defeated Stade Brestois in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France (2-0), then won the competition. The following year, the Finistère club took its revenge: Brest won its ticket to the elite when Guingamp falls in National.
For 12 years now, Guingampais and Brestois have not faced each other again in official competition, their clubs having crossed paths as promoted and relegated in 2013 and 2019 (see graphic). Despite everything, the two teams have met since then every year in very competitive friendly matches: six victories everywhere. The last, on July 23, was won by the Costarmoricains.
In the absence of Brestois, the liveliest Breton meetings opposed Guingampais to Rennais, a derby recently baptized “Celtico”. The rivalry was particularly virulent during the 2010s, where it turned to the advantage of Tom Thumb: six victories against four in Ligue 1, a victory in the sixteenth of the League Cup finals and above all two victories in the Coupe de France final.
FC Lorient, without hard feelings
FC Lorient begins this season with a trip to Brittany, Rennes, this Sunday, August 7. Even though the two clubs have spent 14 seasons together in league 1 since 1999, difficult to speak of Breton rivalry. On the one hand, because unlike the Guingampais, the Merlus are struggling against the Rennais: often beaten, they are sometimes even corrected as during the last confrontation, a 5-0 defeat at Roazhon Park last April.
On the other hand, the Lorient people are less looking for a fight than other Breton clubs – “Lorient is Switzerland. We have no enemy” would have declared coach Christian Gourcuff in 2009, whether with Rennes, Nantes, or even in the most disputed derbies against Brest (11V, 6N, 10D since 2010) or against Guingampais (9V, 1N, 8D since 2009).
No derby, no French Cup
Seven. This is the number of times the competition has been won by a Breton club since 1999 and systematically, chance or destiny, it took win at least one derby before you can lift the trophy :
- 1999: FC Nantes beat EA Guingamp in the quarter-finals (2-0)
- 2000: FC Nantes beat Stade Rennais in the quarter-finals (2-1, ap)
- 2002: FC Lorient beat Stade Rennais in the round of 16 (2-1)
- 2009: EA Guingamp beat Stade Brestois in the round of 16 (2-0, ap) and Stade Rennais in the final (2-1)
- 2014: EA beats US Concarneau in the round of 16 (3-2 ap) and Stade Rennais in the final (2-0)
- 2019: Stade Rennais beats Stade Brestois in the 32nd final (2-2, 5-4 on pens)
- 2022: FC Nantes beat AS Vitré in the sixteenth round (2-0) and Stade Brestois in the round of 16 (2-0)
FC Nantes, FC Lorient, Stade Rennais and Stade Brestois are in Ligue 1 for this 2022-2023 season. EA Guingamp, in Ligue 2, are fighting for the rise this year after their brilliant end to last season (seven wins in nine games) and their good start in Pau which allowed them to place at the top of the classification in outcome of the first day. Soon five Breton clubs in the elite?