Football Club Lorient Bretagne Sud (; commonly referred to FC Lorient or simply Lorient) is a French association football club based in

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town ('' commune'') and seaport in the Morbihan department of Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginning around 3000 BC, settlements in the area of Lorient are attested by the presen ...

, Brittany. The club was founded in 1926 and currently competes in

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...

, the top flight of

French football Association football is the most popular sport in France. The French Football Federation (FFF, Fédération Française de Football) is the national governing body and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of association football in the cou ...

, following promotion from

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue ...

in the 2019–20 season. Lorient plays its home matches at the Stade Yves Allainmat, named after the former mayor of Lorient. The stadium is surnamed

Stade du Moustoir The Stade du Moustoir - Yves Allainmat, known as the Stade du Moustoir, is a multi-use stadium in Lorient, France. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of FC Lorient. The stadium can hold up to 18,110 with the ...

because of its location within the city. The team is managed by Régis Le Bris. Lorient had a relatively bleak history nationally before 1998 when the club made its first appearance in

in the 1998–99 season. Before that, Lorient spent most of its life as an amateur club. Lorient's achieved its biggest honour in 2002 when the club won the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

defeating

Bastia Bastia (, , , ; co, Bastìa ) is a commune in the department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest population of any commune on the is ...

1–0 in

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. Lorient has never won Ligue 1, but has won the

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, ...

earning this honour in 1995. Regionally, the club has won five

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

Division d'Honneur titles and six Coupe de Bretagne. Lorient has most notably served as a springboard club for several present-day internationals such as

Laurent Koscielny Laurent Koscielny (born 10 September 1985) is a French former professional footballer who played as a centre back. Born in Tulle, Koscielny began his football career playing for a host of youth clubs before moving to Guingamp in 2003, where he q ...

André-Pierre Gignac André-Pierre Christian Gignac (born 5 December 1985) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for Liga MX club Tigres UANL. Gignac is described as a "powerful and dangerous" striker who is known for his "aerial presence". He i ...

, Michaël Ciani, Kevin Gameiro,

Karim Ziani Karim Koceila Yanis Ziani ( ar, كريم زياني; born 17 August 1982) is an Algerian former professional footballer. He played in different midfield positions but was best known as a playmaker. He is now the sporting director of JS Kabylie. ...

, Bakari Koné,

Matteo Guendouzi Matteo Elias Kenzo Guendouzi Olié (; born 14 April 1999) is a French professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 1 club Olympique de Marseille, Marseille and the France national football team, France nation ...

, and

Seydou Keita Seydou Keïta (; anglicised to Keita; born 16 January 1980) is a Malian former footballer. A versatile midfielder, he operated as both a central or defensive midfielder. Keita most notably played for Lens (five seasons) and Barcelona (four), ...

. French international

Yoann Gourcuff Yoann Miguel Gourcuff (born 11 July 1986) is a French former professional footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder. He could also be utilized as a withdrawn striker, and was described as a "playmaker of real quality" who "is an a ...

, the son of Christian Gourcuff, began his career at the club before moving to

Derby Breton The Derby de la Bretagne (, ''Brittany Derby''; also known as the Derby Breton () is a football match. The match can potentially designate any match-up between two sporting football associations based in the historic province of Brittany; however, ...

rivals

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine departme ...

History

Football Club Lorient was founded on 2 April 1926. Lorient was formed off of ''La Marée Sportive'', a club founded a year earlier by Madame Cuissard, a store patron who originated from

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Saint-Étienne is the ...

, and her son Joseph. The club began play as an amateur club under the

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

n manager Jozef Loquay and won the ''Champions de l'Ouest'' in 1929, which placed the club into the Division d'Honneur of the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

. In 1932, Lorient won the league and, four years later, repeated this performance. The onset of World War II limited the club's meteoric rise in the region and the departure of several players who either joined the war effort or left to play abroad effectively disseminated the club. Following the war,

Antoine Cuissard Antoine Cuissard (19 July 1924 – 3 November 1997) was a French football midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in th ...

, the grandson of Madame Cuissard, joined the club as a player with intentions of rebuilding it in honour of his grandmother. Lorient began play in the Division d'Honneur. Cuissard began one of the first Lorient players to maintain a place in the France national team while playing with the club. In 1954, he played on the team that qualified for the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzer ...

. Lorient quickly recovered and, by 1948, was playing in the

Championnat de France amateur The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of the French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligu ...

(CFA). The club spent two years in the league before falling back to the Division d'Honneur. In 1957, Lorient was promoted back to the CFA, but struggled due to being limited financially. Subsequently, the club sought sponsors with the hopes of becoming professional. In 1967, under the chairmanship of both Jean Tomine and René Fougère, Lorient placed a bid to turn professional and was elected to Division 2 by the French League. Incoming president Henri Ducassou agreed to do his best to make professionalism prosper in Lorient. In the second division, Lorient struggled in the early seventies to consistently stay up in the league table. In the 1974–75 and 1975–76 seasons, the club came close to promotion to Division 1, finishing 3rd in its group on each occasion, one place short of the promotion play-offs. However, the following season, Lorient was relegated to Division 3. The potential of that team had proved above its classification when the club qualified for its first French FA Cup quarter-finals in history. The club subsequently struggled financially and domestically. It went bankrupt in 1978. During this period, under the name "Club des Supporters du FC Lorient" (the supporters legally took over to keep the FC Lorient name alive), Lorient played in the Division Supérieure Régionale (sixth tier of the French football pyramid). In the early 1980s, Georges Guenoum took over the club as president and hired former Lorient player Christian Gourcuff as manager. Surprisingly, under Gourcuff, Lorient quickly climbed back up the French football ladder. In 1983, the club won the Brittany Division d'Honneur title and, the following season, won Division 4. In 1985, they won Division 3 and so were back in Division 2 eight years after their demise at that level! Gourcuff left the club after its first Division 2 campaign, with relegation only being effective through an unfavourable goal difference. Lorient spent the next five years in Division 3 playing under two managers. It went financially bust again in 1990 but was nevertheless allowed to stay in Division 3. In 1991, Gourcuff returned to the club and after almost a decade playing in Division 3, Lorient earned promotion back to Division 2 after winning the second edition of the

Lorient spent two seasons in the second division and, in the 1997–98 season, surprised many by running away with the league alongside champions Nancy. The 1998–99 season marked Lorient's first appearance in Division 1 in the club's history. The appearance was brief with Lorient struggling to meet the financial demands and stronger competition of the league. The club finished in 16th place and were relegated. Amazingly, Lorient finished equal on points with

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

with both clubs having the same number of wins, losses, and draws. However, due to Le Havre having a better goal difference, Lorient was relegated. After only two seasons in Division 2, Lorient were back in the first division for the 2001–02 season. Before the promotion, in April 2001, a takeover of the club led by Alain Le Roch led to internal problems, which resulted in the departure of Gourcuff and one of the club's best players,

Ulrich Le Pen Ulrich Le Pen (born 23 January 1974) is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent most of his career in his native France apart from a short stint at Ipswich Town. Career Born in Auray, Brittany, Le Pen began ...

, soon after. The club hired

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...

manager

Ángel Marcos Ángel Marcos (born April 7, 1943) is an Argentina, Argentine former Association football, football striker (football), striker currently working in the staff of Chamois Niortais FC, Niort. Playing career Marcos started his professional playing c ...

to replace Gourcuff. However, Marcos lasted only a few months. Despite the initial issues, Lorient strengthened its squad in preparation for its return to the first division by recruiting players such as Pascal Delhommeau,

Moussa Saïb Moussa Saïb (born 6 March 1969) is an Algerian football manager and former player. He is currently unattached, after last managing JS Kabylie in the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1. Club career Saïb started his football career with a club f ...

Johan Cavalli Johan Etienne Anthony Cavalli (born 12 September 1981) is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Early career Whilst at Lorient Cavalli played as a substitute in the 2002 Coupe de France Final in which t ...

, and

Pape Malick Diop Pape Malick Diop (born 29 December 1974) is a Senegalese former footballer who played as a defender. He played for Racing Strasbourg (France), Neuchâtel Xamax (Switzerland) and FC Lorient (France). At international level, he represented the ...

. Led by Yvon Pouliquen, the new signings joined the likes of

Jean-Claude Darcheville Jean-Claude Jacques Ducan Darcheville (; born 25 July 1975) is a French Guianese former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played for various clubs in France, England, Scotland, and Greece. He represented French Guiana at the ...

, Arnaud Le Lan, and

and surprised many by reaching the final of the

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

. Lorient was defeated by

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectu ...

. Lorient continued its impressive cup form by winning the

just two months later. In the match, Lorient faced

and defeated the

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

ns 1–0 courtesy of a goal from Darcheville. The title was the club's first major honour. The celebration would however end on a sourer note as Lorient was relegated from league play in the same season. The club participated in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

the following season, falling to Turkish side

Denizlispor Denizlispor, due to current sponsorship Altaş Denizlispor, is a Turkish sports club based in Denizli. It is known by its distinct green and black colors. The club's branches include football, volleyball, basketball, table tennis, and gymnastics. ...

in the first round on

away goals The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

. Lorient returned to the first division, now called Ligue 1, in 2006 with a completely revamped team. Instead of spending money on players, the club focused its efforts on improving its academy and promoted several players to the first-team such as

Virgile Reset Virgile Reset (born 3 August 1985) is a French football midfielder, who currently plays for Sporting Toulon Var. Career Reset began his career with Lorient and joined than in summer 2006 to Sion. On 21 July 2009 the 24-year-old forward has lef ...

, Jérémy Morel, and

Diego Yesso Diego Yesso (born 26 November 1984) is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Career Yesso was born in Ploemeur. He played on the professional level in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 for FC Lorient Football Club Lorient B ...

during the club's stint in Ligue 2. Lorient was also influenced by the arrival of the Malian international Bakari Koné. The club, in its return to Ligue 1, finished mid-table in three straight seasons. In the 2009–10 season, Lorient performed well domestically. In October 2009, the club reached 5th place in the table; its highest position that late in the season ever. Lorient eventually finished the campaign in 7th place; its best finish in Ligue 1. In the 2016-2017

season, Lorient played against

side ES Troyes in the promotion/relegation play off match. Lorient lost the tie 2–1 and were relegated to

after an 11 year stay in the top flight. On 30 April 2020, Lorient were promoted to

after the LFP decided to end the seasons of both Ligue 1 and

early due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Lorient were top of the Ligue 2 table at the time of the decision.

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Reserve squad

Former players

''For a complete list of FC Lorient players with a Wikipedia article, see'' :FC Lorient players

Management and staff

Club officials

;Senior club staff *President: Loïc Féry *General Director: Arnaud Tanguy *Sports coordinator:Aziz Mady Mogne *Manager: Régis Le Bris *Assistant Manager: Julien Outrebon, Ingo Goetze *Goalkeeper Coach:Olivier Lagarde , Ronald Thomas *Scout:

Stéphane Pédron Stéphane Pedron (born 20 February 1971) is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Career Pedron was voted 1997–98 French Division 2 Player of the Season after helping Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''comm ...

, Baptiste Drouet, Jérôme Fougeron *Club Doctor:Vincent Detaille *Medical Director Physiotherapy:Régis Bouyaux

Coaching history

Honours

Domestic

**Champions: 2019–20 *

**Champions: 1994–95 *

**Champions: 2001–02 *

**Runners-up: 2001–02 *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries. His ...

**Runners-up:

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

Regional

*Division d'Honneur (Bretagne) **Champions (5): 1932, 1936, 1957, 1983, 1995The 1995 title was won by the club's reserve team. *Coupe de Bretagne **Champions (6): 1958, 1970, 1982, 1990, 2000, 2002

European football

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lorient, FC Sport in Lorient Association football clubs established in 1926 1926 establishments in France Football clubs in Brittany Ligue 1 clubs