Seventy-four years into their existence, having been founded in 1950, the chance for Stade Brestois to finally make their European debut has been long-awaited. Not only will Wednesday’s match mark the Champions League debut but the clash with Sturm Graz is Les Ti’Zefs’ maiden match in European football.
Only promoted back from France’s second division in 2019, Brest have operated on the fringes of Ligue 1 since then, with a mid-table finish (11th in 2021-22) their best placement before last season. However, under the incredible (and unlikely, given his record) stewardship of Éric Roy, the team finished third in the final standings, edging out Lille, Nice and Lyon, and also playing cohesive, modern attacking football.
They have earned their reward, playing in the continent’s biggest competition, but will do so with a roster depleted by the summer transfer window. While several of the stars of last season’s team, including the playmaker Romain Del Castillo and the influential central midfielder Pierre Lees-Melou, have resisted overtures towards their departure, others have not.
Gone are the promising young centre-back Lilian Brassier, departed for Marseille on a loan with purchase option and the striker Steve Mounié – a face perhaps familiar to English fans for an ill-fated stint at Huddersfield during the club’s brief spell in the Premier League. The team have also lost a pair of players who were not regular starters but nevertheless vital cogs in Roy’s approach, the versatile and hard-working forwards Martín Satriano and Jérémy Le Douaron.
There has been some movement to replace that quartet, but a trolley-dash spending spree in the final days of the transfer market yielded only Mama Baldé, a fleetingly effective presence during his time at Troyes but underwhelming at Lyon; Romain Faivre, who returns to the club where he made his name after an itinerant and wholly mediocre two years; Ludovic Ajorque, who impressed at Strasbourg but was poor in Germany; and the young Malian international Kamory Doumbia, who was with the club on loan last season, but often struggled to get into the team.
Despite the allure of Champions League football, the team found recruitment to be difficult, a fact underscored by the quality of their arrivals, but also the destinations of their departed players. Le Douaron went to Palermo, a historic club in Italy but one playing in the second division, while Mounié joined Augsburg in Germany on a free. Even Brassier, despite Marseille’s impressive project, and a probable wage increase, has joined a team where he might not be a guaranteed starter, and one not even competing in Europe, let alone the Champions League.
However, when one looks at the draw, aside from a home match against Bayer Leverkusen and a pair of matches against Real Madrid and Barcelona, the Bretons seem to have presented with a rather favourable set of fixtures. After facing Sturm Graz this week, their other four matches are against RB Salzburg, Sparta Prague, Shakhtar Donetsk and PSV Eindhoven. To say that Les Pirates would be outright favourites in any of those would belie their summer of turmoil, but they would not rank as outsiders against any of that quintet. The supposed level of eight to 10 points needed to reach the play-0ff round seems well within their reach.
Brest have been traditionally strong at home. The Stade Francis-Le Blé was a fortress last season as the team lost just twice. But, Uefa has insisted that the team will play in EA Guingamp’s Stade de Roudourou , located over 100km away from their own stadium.
Guingamp have played in Europe in the last decade and the stadium was renovated in 2018, but at more than an hour from Brest by car, the trip has the potential to severely limit any home advantage the neophytes may have hoped to enjoy. However, Brest will have the advantage of facing an Austrian side who have not played since the international break, owing to flooding in that country, something which may give them enough of an edge.
Brest have been inconsistent at the start of this season. After a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of Marseille to open the season, the team looked sharper but still lost to 10-man Lens the next weekend before beating Saint-Étienne. On Saturday, against a weakened Paris Saint-Germain XI, Brest lost 3-1 in the capital.
To date, only bottom-placed Montpellier have conceded more than Brest in the Ligue 1, and the team will be without Lees-Melou, the left back Bradley Locko and Faivre against Sturm Graz.
Roy has claimed that the Champions League experience should be savoured, first and foremost. “After having achieved what we did last year, if we don’t start from the principle of enjoying it and experiencing it to the fullest, it’s a bit stupid,” he said.
This sentiment was also echoed by Brendan Chardonnet, a product of the club’s academy and a native of Saint-Renan, a tiny fishing town at the far end of Brittany. The defender spoke not about any trepidation, but about a sense of regional pride being of primal importance, as well as the prospect of being competitive in the face of the aforementioned kind draw. “The fact that we’re underdogs doesn’t mean that we’re not professionals and competitive. Getting here means that we proved we have quality, and we’re going to prove that again.
“It’s important that the players learn about the region and the city and what the fans expect from them. I try to show them around the area, if they’re looking for a restaurant or a nice place to visit. Being from Brittany is about being proud of your region. We like to show that, and you’ll see Breton flags at events wherever you go here.”
If that combination of regional pride and enjoying the moment is to have any hope of continuing in the competition past January, a win over Sturm Graz is all but imperative for Brest, even if it is not (exactly) on home soil.