HOME AND AWAY
Champions League team forced to move stadiums and play home games 70 MILES away in revamped tournament
French side feature a pair of ex-Prem stars and an English former wonderkid
BREST will be forced to play European games 70 miles away from their Stade Francis Le Ble home next season.
The French side earned a spot in the Champions League courtesy of a brilliant third-placed finish in Ligue 1.
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Eric Roy's side have qualified for Europe for the first time in their 121-year history.
But fans will have to hit the motorway in order to watch their games.
Uefa have ruled that Stade Francis Le Ble does not meet their standards.
In fact, the 15,220 capacity stadium possesses just 5,000 seats deemed acceptable by European football's governing body.
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Brest have submitted a request to Uefa to use Guingamp's Stade de Roudourou instead.
The 18,462-seater ground is located 70 miles east of Brest.
It is regularly used for Ligue 2 games, with Guingamp languishing in the second tier.
Brest qualified for the Champions League by finishing third, only behind Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco.
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They beat off strong competition from 2021 champions Lille, with Nice and Lyon finishing fifth and sixth, respectively.
Their Champions League debut will coincide with the competition undergoing a huge revamp.
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The move to a new "Swiss Model" will see the group stage expand from 32 to 36 teams.
Clubs will play eight different teams during this phase, guaranteeing four home games and a further four away.
All results will contribute to a 36-team league, with the top eight going straight into the round of 16.
Teams finishing between ninth and 24th will then take part in two-legged play-off ties in a bid to join the top eight in the knockouts.
Brest's squad includes former Premier League stars Steve Mounie and Jordan Amavi.
They also have an Englishman among their ranks in former Celtic wonderkid Karamoko Dembele, who spent the 2023-24 season on loan at Blackpool.
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