In Brittany, north-west France, football is a cultural driving force.

Thanks to eight-time French champions Nantes, and Rennes, whose academy has produced France stars like Eduardo Camavinga and Ousmane Dembele, it has always had a fierce reputation.

But after living in the shadow of their more dominant neighbours, Stade Brestois 29 achieved something remarkable last season: Champions League qualification.

After four matches, they are fourth in the table with three wins and a draw, while their 10 points is more than the totals of seasoned campaigners Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.

Over the past 33 years, Brest have fought back from the financial wilderness.

Like Bordeaux are experiencing now, Brest faced a spell in the amateur leagues after financially overextending themselves and collapsing.

In fact, Brest existed in those ranks between 1991 and 2004 before turning professional again.

Following promotion to Ligue 1 in 2019, Brest survived on a small budget with facilities that were hardly fit for purpose.

One local journalist described their stadium as “from the Middle Ages” – a new one is in the works – while a source describes Brest as “the end of the world in a football city”.

People are said to pride themselves on “character, humility and hard work”, and those qualities resurrected the club in its darkest hour.

After struggling for five years, many expected them to go down last season. Instead, they finished third.