Captain of the French team third in the 1958 World Cup, with the offensive talents Just Fontaine and Raymond Kopa, Roger Marche was the record holder for selections for the Blues from 1955 to 1983! Marius Trésor beat him almost 28 years later. For his 63rd and final tricolor cape, the left-back even scored his one and only goal, during a friendly match against Alfredo Di Stéfano’s Spain at the Parc des Princes, at the age of 35. Olivier Giroud surpassed him in September 2022.
Roger Marche has long been the intractable left-back of the great Stade de Reims, managed by Albert Batteux and led by a number 10 named Kopa, elected Ballon d’Or in 1958. In nine seasons, he was crowned French champion twice and was on the winning team of the 1953 Latin Cup (against AC Milan), before joining the Racing Club de Paris in 1954.
RC Paris, resident of the Parc des Princes
A native of Charleville-Mézières and nicknamed “the Wild Boar of the Ardennes”, the French international became “the Old Lion” within the main Parisian club (1936 French champion and five-time winner of the Coupe de France). His international status gave him the label of star player of RC Paris and he was thus the darling of the Parc des Princes, the club’s home. He played until 1961 at the RCP, being vice-champion of France twice.
With an aging team, RC Paris will then plummet in the rankings, go down to D2 and sink financially. In 1966, the club abandoned its professional status and the team came back under the aegis of the Racing Club de France, an omnisport entity in Colombes. The situation then pushed the city of Paris to create a major club in the capital itself, renaming the Saint-Germain-en-Laye club, then in D2, Paris Saint-Germain in 1970.
