Golazo, the Sports.fr podcast, looks back on the creation of UEFA and the Euro in its latest episode, on the occasion of the 2024 edition in Germany. The European Nations Cup (before being renamed the European Nations Championship and the European Football Cup) saw its final phase take place in France because the Blues were one of the four survivors of the first two rounds. The team led by the legendary Raymond Kopa and Just Fontaine swept Scotland in the round of 16 (7-1, 1-1) and Greece in the quarterfinals (5-2, 4-2).
The selection led by Albert Batteux (the coach of Stade de Reims) then lost its two star players before the “Final Four” in July, with Fontaine even suffering a double leg fracture. However, France could easily have won its semi-final against Yugoslavia, since it led 4-2 with a quarter of an hour to go, thanks in particular to a double from François Heutte and a third goal from Maryan Wisniewski. Before a remontada terrible at the Parc des Princes. The Yugoslavs scored three times in four minutes, in the 75th, 78th and 79th, to win 5-4!
The France goalkeeper is completely dark
Of the three Yugoslav goals, Georges Lamia, the French goalkeeper (and OGC Nice), went through each time, letting the ball slip into his goal or giving it back to an opposing player. In The Teamthe journalist Jacques Ferran then wrote: “Three goals unworthy of civilized football (…) at the end of which we find the unfortunate Lamia, frozen, bewildered, stupid, overwhelmed…”. The co-creator of the Champion Clubs’ Cup and the Ballon d’Or could not minimize the total bankruptcy of the French goalkeeper…
During the match for 3rd place, three days later in a sparse Vélodrome, Batteux rotated his squad and the Blues were beaten 2-0 by Czechoslovakia. From big favorite of the very first Euro – with its offensive duo Kopa-Fontaine – to an anecdotal 4th place, such is the destiny of this French team which finished 3rd in the 58 World Cup in Sweden… The next day, at the Park, It was Lev Yashin’s Soviet Union who were the first winners of the European Nations Cup, beating Yugoslavia 2-0.
