Brest will advance to the first round of the Champions League for the first time in its history next season. Winners in Toulouse (3-0) on Sunday, the Finistériens took advantage of the poor performance of Lille (2-2 against Nice), who will have to go through a 3rd preliminary round and a play-off to join the Bretons in the first round of the C1.
But the Brest club will not be able to play its first matches in its Francis-Le Blé stadium because it does not meet the standards required by UEFA to host C1 matches, in particular because three of its four stands are structures tubular, prohibited in continental regulations. After a technical inspection at the end of April, the European body informed Brest that, in the absence of extremely substantial work, he would only be authorized to play in front of 5,000 people at Le-Blé if he wanted to play in his stadium.
Roudourou, “the closest stadium”
“We haven’t completely decided yet”, first confided the mayor of Brest, François Cuillandre (PS), to journalists who asked him which stadium would host the Finistériens. But, when asked directly about the Roudourou hypothesis, which clearly seems to have the wind in its sails, he replied “a priori, yes (…), normally”adding that he had spoken to the mayor of Guingamp on the phone shortly before.
Brest has until May 22 to inform UEFA of the place where it intends to play the first European matches in its history. While Roazhon Park, in Rennes, was also part of the tracks, especially since the Rouge et Noir will not compete in European competitions next season, Mr. Cuillandre stressed that Roudourou was “the closest stadium to Brest”.
“I regret that it is not in Le-Blé but it also reinforces our idea of building a new stadium”, he added. Several years ago, Brest launched a project to build a new 15,000-seat stadium, construction of which is scheduled to begin in 2025 and which should not be delivered before 2027.
