Brittany national football team
| Shirt badge/Association crest | |||
| Nickname(s) | The Black Devils | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Bretagne Football Association (BFA) | ||
| Head coach | Michel Audrain | ||
| |||
| First international | |||
 Brittany 1 - 0 Luxembourg  Rennes, 12 March 1922 | |||
| Biggest win | |||
Brittany 3 - 1 Congo  Saint-Brieuc, 20 May 2008 | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
Brittany 1 - 5 Norway  Rennes, 1 November 1923 | |||
The Brittany football select is the professional football team of Brittany, France. It is administered by Bretagne Football Association (BFA). It is neither affiliated to FIFA nor UEFA but is characterised as one of the six Celtic nations and has also been referred to as Little Britain, as opposed to Great Britain. Its games are held under the care of the French Football Federation and FIFA Regulations (III.8.3, p.59). Amateur football in Brittany is administered by both the Ligue de Bretagne and Ligue Atlantique, which are regional FAs within the French FA.
A strong professional squad
Brittany plays unofficial internationals. BFA has a pool of around 100 players in the first three professional divisions to choose from, some of them with proven international football experience. Brittany's Stéphane Guivarc'h won the 1998 World Cup with France.
Brittany notably held Cameroon to a 1-1 draw before the 1998 World Cup finals, featuring Paul Le Guen. Six games had to be called off between 1999 and 2005 because of the then French FA administration, which contradicted its own rules. Fortunately, the head of the French FA administration changed and BFA finally recovered in order to fully resume its activities in 2008. Its latest games were played versus Togo (2-1) on 21st May 2010 and Equatorial Guinea (0-1) on 2nd June 2011.
Celtic Cup Ambitions
BFA offered other Celtic nations to join in a Celtic Nations Championship between 1985 and 1987. On 9th September 1985, BFA Secretary Fañch Gaume, visiting Cardiff on the eve of a World Cup qualifier between Wales and Scotland, sounded both the FA of Wales and the Scottish FA about participation to a Celtic Nations Cup. Informal conversations were followed up by correspondence and further personal exchanges, whenever the opportunity presented itself before international games.
While Wales showed a genuine interest, the offer finally fell on barren ground with Scotland. Rejection letters from the SFA for non-entry stated the difficulties to find suitable dates but, as the Sports Editor of "The Glasgow Herald" Jim Reynolds presented it: "It is just two years since England and Scotland broke up the British International Championship by calling a halt to regular games featuring Northern Ireland and Wales. So, the chances of a Celtic Championship involving Scotland must be remote."[1]
BFA recently renewed its claims to take part in the new Celtic Nations Cup with the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales by 2015 or 2017. As a first step, Brittany may very well play the Republic of Ireland in a friendly on 26th May 2012 at home in Nantes.
Internationals
| Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 March 1922 | Rennes | Brittany |
Luxembourg |
1 - 0 |
| 11 February 1923 | Esch-sur-Alzette | Luxembourg |
Brittany |
1 - 4 |
| 1 November 1923 | Rennes | Brittany |
Norway |
1 - 5 |
| 23 March 1924 | Rennes | Brittany |
Luxembourg |
1 - 1 |
| 22 February 1925 | Luxembourg | Luxembourg |
Brittany |
1 - 1 |
| 10 April 1938 | Brest | Brittany |
 Germany XI |
called-off |
| 23 April 1939 | Brest | Brittany |
Luxembourg |
3 - 1 |
| 30 December 1988 | Brest | Brittany |
 United States |
6 - 2 (indoor) |
| 21 May 1998 | Rennes | Brittany |
 Cameroon |
1 - 1 |
| 25 May 1999 | Nantes | Brittany |
 Republic of Ireland |
called-off ° |
| 30 May 2000 | Nantes | Brittany |
 Romania |
called-off ° |
| 20 March 2001 | Angers | Brittany |
 Cuba |
called-off ° |
| 22 May 2001 | Lorient | Brittany |
 Morocco |
called-off ° |
| 31 August 2001 | Lorient | Brittany |
 Latvia |
called-off ° |
| June 2003 | - | Brittany |
 New Zealand |
called-off ° |
| 20 May 2008 | Saint-Brieuc | Brittany |
Congo |
3 - 1 |
| 19 May 2010 | Ajaccio |  Corsica |
Brittany |
2 - 0 |
| 21 May 2010 | Bastia | Brittany |
 Togo |
2 - 1 |
| 2 June 2011 | Saint-Nazaire | Brittany |
 Equatorial Guinea |
0 - 1 |
° game agreed but not played because of then French FA administration (1999-2005).
Capped Players
Opponents : Cm (Cameroon), Cg (Republic of Congo), Cs (Corsica), Gq (Equatorial Guinea), Oi (Nantes 'Ouest Indoor' Tournament), Tg (Togo), Us (USA).
Last-minute defections through injury or illness:
- 1998: Sylvain Ripoll, Ronan Salaün
- 2000: Claude Michel
- 2008: Mathieu Bouyer, Romain Danzé, Yoann Gourcuff, Fabien Lemoine
- 2010: Hassan Ahamada, Étienne Didot, Jérémy Menez, Fabien Robert
- 2011: Florent Besnard, Mathieu Bouyer
Managers
- 1988: Jean-Louis Lamour and Marc Rastoll
- 1998: Georges Eo and René Le Lamer
- 2000/2008: Serge Le Dizet
- 2010: Pierre-Yves David
- 2011: Michel Audrain
Current squad
The following players were called for a match against Equatorial Guinea in Saint-Nazaire, Brittany, France on June 2, 2011.[2]
Image gallery
-
Brittany, captained by Paul Le Guen, in a match against Cameroon in 1998 -
Brittany in a match against Congo at Stade Fred Aubert, Saint-Brieuc, in 2008
.jpg)
Notes and references
- ^ "The Celtic Nations' Union". The Herald (Glasgow). George Outram & Co. 7 November 1986.
- ^ [1] Template:Fr icon
Links
French Football Federation (President: Philippe Diallo (interim)) Ligue féminine de football professionnel (President: Jean-Michel Aulas) | |||||||
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