Just Fontaine, Record-Setting French Soccer Star, Dies at 89
Just Fontaine, the French soccer star who scored a file 13 objectives on the 1958 World Cup, died on Wednesday. He was 89.
Fontaine’s former membership Reims and the French soccer federation introduced his dying, however didn’t say the place he died or cite a trigger.
Fontaine took six video games to attain his feat on the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, when he was a last-minute inclusion on the French squad.
Entering the match, Fontaine, a ahead, was little identified exterior the French league. Yet he tormented opponents along with his velocity and final touch, although needed to borrow a pair of cleats after damaging his personal boots in follow.
Fontaine scored 4 objectives within the third-place recreation in opposition to West Germany, and he might have had 5 if he had taken the penalty kick.
In addition to his feats with the nationwide workforce, Fontaine received the French league title 4 instances, received the French Cup and reached the ultimate of the 1959 European Cup throughout his profession with Casablanca, Nice and Reims.
The French soccer federation mentioned there can be tributes to Fontaine throughout France this weekend, with a “minute of homage” that may also be noticed on Wednesday earlier than French Cup video games at Toulouse, Marseille and Nantes.
The highest scorer at a World Cup match is now acknowledged with the Golden Boot award. FIFA didn’t start presenting that award till after Fontaine set the file.
“Beating my record? I don’t think it can ever be done,” Fontaine instructed The Associated Press in a 2006 interview. “The person who wants to beat me has a massive task, doesn’t he? He has to score two goals per game over seven games.”
Playing within the days when no substitutions had been allowed, France misplaced within the semifinals, 5-2, to a Brazil workforce that includes the 17-year-old Pelé.
The males’s file for many objectives scored in a World Cup profession is 16, by the Germany striker Miroslav Klose, who performed in 4 tournaments. Fontaine, who broke the file of 11 objectives scored by the Hungary striker Sandor Kocsis on the 1954 match, performed in just one World Cup.
The Brazil striker Marta has scored 17 objectives in 5 Women’s World Cup tournaments.
Fontaine scored 200 objectives in 213 video games, together with 30 objectives in 21 video games for France. But his profession was lower quick when he was solely 28.
Renowned for his lightning tempo and ruthless ending, Fontaine suffered a severe leg fracture after a mistimed deal with in March 1960. He retired as a participant simply after his twenty ninth birthday. He briefly coached France’s nationwide workforce earlier than occurring to educate Luchon, Paris Saint-Germain, Toulouse and the Moroccan nationwide workforce.
Just Fontaine was born in Marrakesh, Morocco, on Aug. 18, 1933. Information on survivors was not instantly obtainable.
