Before Michel Platini and ZinĂ©dine Zidane, exceptional number 10s who helped the French team win (Euro 1984 for “Platoche”, the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 for “Zizou”), Raymond Kopa led the Blues to 3rd place in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. The French selection was beaten by PelĂ©’s Brazil in the semi-finals (5-2), before beating West Germany (6-3). If Just Fontaine finished top scorer (13 goals), Kopa was sparkling and will be crowned Ballon d’Or France Football during the third edition, after Stanley Matthews and Alfredo Di StĂ©fano. Platini will be the second French Ballon d’Or 25 years later.
Star player at Stade de Reims from 1951 to 1956 (being a four-time French champion), Raymond Kopaszewski (he is of Polish origin) played in a first World Cup to establish himself as the great offensive leader of his squad, to the great joy of his teammates Roger Piantoni and Jean Vincent. Kopa was thus recruited by Real Madrid in 56, a few days after losing the final of the Champion Clubs’ Cup against the Merengues.
The Blues deprive themselves of their star number 10
Kopa will blaze in the biggest club of the moment, built by a certain Santiago Bernabéu, with the football geniuses Alfredo Di Stéfano and Ferenc Puskas. He played at Casa Blanca for three seasons, winning two Liga and three C1, but to the detriment of his career with the French team. He then gave up on his national team, because the Blues were then made up only of players from the French championship!
Raymond Kopa therefore does not participate in the World 58 qualifiers and his call-up for the world tournament is contested in the French press. The director of the French team Paul Nicolas does not budge and allows Albert Batteux, coach of the great Stade de Reims, to form his team around the talented playmaker.
