World Football Club Crests

In Northwest France lies Britanny, a region with its own history and language. It is also recognised for its football: Stade Rennais, Stade Brestois, En Avant de Guingamp and FC Lorient are teams that have each, in their own way, made an impression on French football. For Lorient, this includes a cup win in 2002, a triumph that would have been impossible a couple of years earlier.

FC Lorient was founded in 1926, but it wasn’t until 1998 that the club made its debut in Ligue 1. Up to that point the team had led a rather anonymous life in the country’s lower divisions. The journey upwards through the divisions began in 1991, when Christian Gourcuff began his second spell as coach at the club. The team won the third division title and reached Ligue 1 within six years.

The club’s greatest success came, however, in the first year without Gourcuff at the helm. The 2001/02 season did end with relegation, but also with two cup finals. In the less prestigious league Cup, Lorient scrambled through to the final, where Bordeaux were too strong (Lorient lost 3-0). In the French Cup, however, the team were immortalised by beating Bastia in the final at the Stade de France – a title that wasn’t just the club’s first but would also take them into Europe for the first time.

Since then there have been no more titles, but the club managed to get themselves back into Ligue 1 in 2006, again thanks to Christian Gourcuff. They stayed there for 11 years before being relegated again in the spring of 2017.

CLUB: FC Lorient-Bretagne Sud

NICKNAME: Les Merlus (the Hakes) and Le FCL

FOUNDED: 1926

STADIUM: Stade du Moustoir, Lorient (18,500 capacity)

HISTORIC PLAYERS: Christian Gourcuff, Jean-Claude Darcheville, Fabien Audard, Laurent Koscielny and Kévin Gameiro

1994–2002. The fishing industry is important for Lorient, and since they were founded in 1926 their famous emblem has incorporated a fish. Up to 1994 the crest was diamond-shaped, but in the club’s quest for Ligue 1 status, they reshaped the emblem in the mid-’90s. The number 56 refers to the département of Morbihan (département 56) where Lorient is located. The fish is a hake, merlu in French – hence the nickname Les Merlus.

2002–2010. After the cup win in 2002, the club crest was updated. Several elements disappeared, the number 56 was removed and the club name FC Lorient Bretagne Sud was moved up, above the shield. The design of the circle, fish and ball was also updated.

2010–present. In May 2010, the club introduced their third shield in the space of 16 years, because it had acquired a new owner, Loïc Féry. The hake looked quite different as did the shape of the crest. Féry explained that the new shape, which resembles a V (for victory), represents the history and ambition of the club. For the first time it showed the year the club was founded, and at the top the Breton flag, the Gwenn-ha-du. Other Breton clubs have also indicated their origins with similar symbols in their crests, including Stade Brestois, Stade Rennais and En Avant de Guingamp.

Lorient midfielder Tchiressoua Guel in action in the French Cup in 2002. Against the odds, Lorient reached the final and triumphed 4-1 over Bastia in front of a 60,000 Stade de France crowd.