Simply the Brest: Stade Brestois' Champions League campaign

Words: Guirec Munier

Images: Guirec Munier

“Tonnerre de Brest !” (“Ten thousand thundering typhoons” in English) as Captain Haddock would have exclaimed on May 19, 2024, at around 10:50 p.m. as Stade Brestois qualified for Europe and the Champions League, no less.

You have to pinch yourself to believe it. The club from the North West French port city had played at amateur level between 1991 and 2004 following financial problems.

Even the most inveterate dreamers and optimists wouldn't have imagined Brest (and not breast, as Micah Richards joked on CBS Sports) would be able to secure their first-ever European qualification with a team composed of individually average players and such a limited budget.

But willpower, luck, opportunism, and great collective strength can move mountains and lead to a logical qualification.

©Guirec Munier/ Terrace Editon. Brest fan.

With Champions League qualification in the bag, Stade Brestois now had to focus on finding a host stadium.

The Francis-Le Blé stadium, stuck in the 1990s, doesn’t meet UEFA's strict standards. Roazhon Park in Rennes and Roudourou stadium in Guingamp were in the running to host the Ty-Zefs.

One can accommodate just under 30,000 spectators, a 2.5-hour drive from Brest, the other can hold around 15,000 people, an hour and 15 minutes away.

After several weeks of consideration, Stade Brestois finally opted for Guingamp despite the antagonism between Brest supporters and those of En Avant de Guingamp.

This rivalry went as far as reversing the seating of visiting supporters so that the Brest ultras wouldn’t be in the stand usually occupied by the Guingamp ultras.

With the stadium now secured, the summer wouldn't be long enough to plan for the unpredictable in an unfamiliar land.

©Guirec Munier/ Terrace Edition. Brest stickers.

Aware that the performance achieved last season was more of a flash in the pan than a new lasting dynamic, Stade Brestois asked itself the right question.

How can we ensure that we perform honorably without being unreasonable, at the risk of experiencing a real ordeal that could ruin the upcoming season?

This reflection led to a strong and assumed choice, the Breton club won’t fall into the delusions of grandeur for an adventure probably without a future.

Business as usual. Stade Brestois would capitalize on its unwavering team spirit to seize the opportunity to live life to the fullest.

Then, on August 29, Brest plunged once again into the irrational with the league phase draw. Real Madrid and FC Barcelona would face the competition's Hop-o'-My-Thumb.

Unimaginable for players and fans accustomed to watching European football on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings from their sofas. The epic could then begin, for better or for worse.

©Guirec Munier/ Terrace Edition. Brest fans.

Fearless, with a knife between their teeth, the Pirates started the competition with a bang and kept that desire alive until the end of the league phase. SK Sturm Graz or Real Madrid, it didn't matter.

The Stade Brestois players and their fans lived their moment to the fullest, miraculously and deservedly qualifying for the knockout phase of the playoffs.

And at this point, much to the dismay of the people of Brest, the exhilarating scent of the Champions League evaporated in an instant.

The hoped-for double-header against Benfica won’t happen and it’s a Franco-French duel that extinguished the fire that was until then incandescent.

A real fire extinguisher. Seen, re-watched, and re-rewatched, the games against PSG seemed bland and lost from the start.

The 10-0 aggregate defeat inflicted by Paris marked the end of Brest's heroic adventure. Stade Brestois didn't get the cherry on the cake, but the cake couldn't have been more delicious.

©Guirec Munier/ Terrace Edition. Brest capo.

©Guirec Munier/ Terrace Edition. Brest fan.

Guirec is on Instagram: @jeanprouffisonfire

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