| Nickname(s) | The Black Devils Les Diables Noirs An Du Diaouloù | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Breton Football Association (BFA) | ||
| Head coach | Raymond Domenech | ||
| |||
| First international | |||
 Brittany 1–0Luxembourg  (Rennes,France; 12 March 1922) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
| Brittany 4-1Luxembourg (Esch-sur-Alzette,Luxembourg; 11 February 1923) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
Brittany 1–5Norway  (Rennes, France; 1 November 1923) | |||
TheBrittany national football team (French:Équipe de Bretagne de football,Breton:Skipailh Breizh) is the representativefootball team ofBrittany,France. It is administered by the Breton Football Association (BFA). Brittany is neither affiliated toFIFA norUEFA but is characterised as one of the sixCeltic nations. Its games are held under the auspices of theFrench Football Federation and FIFA Regulations[1] Amateur football in Brittany is administered by both theLigue de Bretagne and theLigue des Pays de Loire, which are regional associations within the French FA.
Brittany plays unofficial internationals. Eligibility to play for the Breton team is strict, as the players (or their parents or grandparents) must have been born within the Breton territory. The 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. Those who have played for the Breton side include the likes ofChristian Gourcuff,Paul Le Guen,Yann Kermorgant. Brittany'sStéphane Guivarc'h won the 1998 World Cup with France.
Given their strong sense of cultural separatism from the rest of France, Brittany formed a Breton XI football team, that competed at various points throughout the 20th century, playing against the likes ofLuxembourg andNorway. The Breton team made their debut at theRoazhon Park inRennes in 1922, defeating Luxembourg 1-0.
The Breton Football Association (BFA) was formalized on 18 July 1997, and shortly after they brought together Breton professional footballers to form a representative football team of Brittany. Following the support fromFernand Sastre andMichel Platini (co-presidents of the French Organizing Committee for the1998 World Cup), the Brittany team was set up with the aim to offer a warm-up game to the 1998 WC qualified national teams, and therefore, they played their first official game againstCameroon on 21 May 1998 (two weeks before the start of the tournament) atRoazhon Park inRennes, and a Breton side featuringPaul Le Guen surprised, as they notably hold the Cameroonian to a 1-1 draw, thanks to an equalizing goal fromGuingampais Rouxel just before the break. Six games had to be called off between 1999 and 2005 because of the then French FA administration, which contradicted its own rules. The head of the French FA administration changed and BFA finally recovered in order to fully resume its activities in 2008. Two years later, in 2010, Brittany participated in the2010 Corsica Football Cup, where they were knocked out in the semi-finals by the hosts and eventual champions,Corsica, however, they managed to salvage same pride by defeatingTogo in the third place match.[2] Its latest game was played versus Mali (1–0) on 28 May 2013.
BFA offered other Celtic nations to join in a Celtic Nations Championship between 1985 and 1987. On 9 September 1985, BFA Secretary Fañch Gaume, visiting Cardiff on the eve of a World Cup qualifier between Wales and Scotland, sounded both theFA of Wales and theScottish 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 theSFA 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."[3]
Brittany recently renewed its claims to organise and take part in the newCeltic Nations Cup[4] with the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales by 2015 at the earliest or 2017.
°game agreed but not played because of then French FA administration (1999–2005).
To be included in the Breton squad, according to FIFA national teams rules, it is eligible a player: - born into one of five historical Breton departments. - with parents from Brittany.- with grandparents from Brittany - grown up in Brittany since the age of seven.
Opponents: Cm (Cameroon), Cg (Republic of Congo), Cs (Corsica), Gq (Equatorial Guinea), Oi (Nantes 'Ouest Indoor' Tournament), Tg (Togo), Us (USA).
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Last-minute defections through injury or illness:
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Breton footballers who represented FIFA national teams
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French Football Federation (President:Philippe Diallo (interim))Ligue féminine de football professionnel (President:Jean-Michel Aulas) | |||||||
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