Formed : 1926
Colours : orange / black
Stade : Le Moustoir (cap. 15 000)
Budget : 35 MF
Last season : 13th, D2 - Coupe de France : last sixteen – League Cup : first round lost to Créteil 1-1 (1-4, pens)
Coach : Christian Gourcuff, born 5th April 1955 at Hanvec. Player with Berné, Guingamp, Rouen & La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switz.)
Assistant : Hervé Guégan
President : currently looking for a new president (are you interested ?)
Goalkeepers : Le Garrec, Peteyrens, Nédélec, Garnier.
Defence : Druon, Dugbatey, Ferron, Gauvin, Guyadier, Le Lan, Sonzogni, Strugeon.
Midfield : Bouard, Bourmaud, Camara, Chavrondier, Cloarec, Dablemont, Dudoit, Guégan, Keita, Le Pen, Savevjong.
Attack : Bédrossian, Darcheville, Fiawoo, Kroupi, Lestin, Pallier.
Some clubs regularly change their coach. Others change regularly their president. Lorient fall into the latter category. Following the departure of Noël Couédel, ex-director of Le Parisien and nowadays head of Breton TV, no-one knows who is exactly in charge of the club from the Morbihan region. The off-pitch wranglings haven't appeared to disturb the concentration of the players, and they have got off to a good start this season. Currently lying in fourth place, and beaten only once on their travels (Créteil, 1-0), against the run of play, it has to be said. Red Star will be up against it, especially players like Jean-Claude Darcheville, former Forest man, and Elie Kroupi who has found the net seven times already this season. Coach Christian Gourcuff has been at the helm since 1991, and also coached the Bretons from 1982-86.
Red Star and Lorinet have already come face to face on three occasions in the relatively new cup. In 1996, at Saint-Ouen, the Audoniens earned a 4-4 draw with a last-minute extra-time Fabrice Dorizon equalizer. On penalties, Red Star won when the unfortunate Jean-Marc Trinita missed his penalty for Lorient against his former team mates.
In 1997, Red Star 93 lost 1-4 to Lorient at home, goals scored by Bélissaoui (24) against Deletang (4), B. Branger (29), Djukic (44), Falquero (77).
In 1998, Lorient – Red Star 93 was on the telly, and Red Star opened the scoring through Mauricio, before finally going down 3-1, two gaols coming in the last ten minutes.
Formed in 1926, the club gained promotion to the CFA in 1948 guided by Jean Snella. Antoine Cuissard is the most famous Lorientais, an international as is Jocelyn Gourvenec. In 1967 Lorient turned professional, but slid back into the DSR in 1981. Promotion back to D2 followed, then a spell of yo-yo 'twixt D2 & D3. In 1998 as flirt with the top flight, including a memorable win at the Parc des Princes over PSG. Going back to 1990, with only two days before the start of the new season, some dodgy book-keeping at Lorient meant that the Bretons were relegated and Red Star reintegrated into the Second Division.
G. Valck