Pontivy GSI

GSI Pontivy finally reached French football's third tier in 2026, promoted to National 1 after winning their National 3 group. In 1999, Pontivy won a play-off to fill the place left by bankrupt FC Mulhouse in the National division, only for the National Directorate for Financial Control to block the move over a projected deficit of 180,000 Francs. The Federal Council upheld the ruling, and the players took the field the following season wearing black armbands in protest.

The Coupe de France gave them better memories. Pontivy reached the Round of 16 in 1999-2000, facing AS Monaco, having done the same against Olympique de Marseille in 1996 and again in 2007. In 2018-19 they went a round further, to the Round of 32, where Paris Saint-Germain ended the run; that season Pontivy, a town of fewer than 15,000 people, became the first place its size anywhere to put two clubs – GSI and Stade Pontivyen – into that stage in the same year.

The football section dates to 1935, set up within the Garde Saint-Ivy, a Catholic youth patronage named for Saint Yvi, the local patron saint, whose initials survive in the club's name. Their first title, the Division d'Honneur Bretagne, came in 1994; the National 3 Bretagne crown of 2020-21 turned out to be a dress rehearsal for the group win that finally sent them up in 2026.

Derby day in Pontivy means Stade Pontivyen, the town's other club; the reserve side keeps a smaller rivalry alive against Loudéac FC.