Football Club Lorient-Bretagne Sud (; commonly referred to FC Lorient or simply Lorient) is a French association football club based in Lorient, Brittany. The club was founded in 1926 and currently play in Ligue 1, the top level of French football. Lorient plays its home matches at the Stade du Moustoir located within the city. The team is managed by Christian Gourcuff and captained by goalkeeper Fabien Audard. Gourcuff formerly played for Lorient and is currently in his third stint as manager of the club.
Lorient had a relatively bleak history nationally prior to 1998 when the club made its first appearance in Ligue 1 in the 1998–99 season. Prior to that, Lorient spent the majority of its life as an amateur club. Lorient's achieved its biggest honour in 2002 when the club won the Coupe de France defeating Bastia 1–0 in the final. Lorient has never won Ligue 1, but has won the Championnat National earning this honour in 1995. Regionally, the club has won five Brittany Division d'Honneur titles and six Coupe de Bretagne.
Lorient has most notably served as a springboard club for several present-day internationals such as Laurent Koscielny, André-Pierre Gignac, Michaël Ciani, Kevin Gameiro, Karim Ziani, Bakari Koné, and Seydou Keita. French international Yoann Gourcuff, the son of Christian Gourcuff, began his career at the club before moving to Derby Breton rivals Rennes. In recent years the club has developed a reputation because of its commitment to playing a spectacular brand of football and its long-standing trust in coach Christian Gourcuff, a highly regarded tactician in France in spite of his relative lack of fame abroad.
Read more about FC Lorient: History