Patrick Raymond Jean Battiston (born 12 March 1957) is a French former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

who played as a defender for the France national team in three World Cups and won the

1984 European Football Championship The 1984 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in France from 12 to 27 June 1984. It was the seventh UEFA European Championship, a competition held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. At the time, only eight countries ...

. At club level, he played for

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand ...

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Saint-Étienne is the ...

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectu ...

, and

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, winning five

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...

titles and one

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

Club career

Born in

Amnéville Amnéville (; german: Amenweiler, 1940–45: ) is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in northeastern France. The town is an important tourist and thermal spa center in France. Geography Amnéville is located in the Moselle valley, ...

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A ...

, Battiston began his career at lower league club Talange (1966–1973), before he was spotted and purchased by

FC Metz Football Club de Metz, commonly referred to as FC Metz or simply Metz (), is a French association football club based in Metz, Lorraine. The club was formed in 1932 and plays in Ligue 2, the second division in the French football league sys ...

(1973–1980). After seven years at that club, he moved to Saint-Etienne (1980–1983) for three years, where they won the 1981 Division 1 title, before moving to

(1983–1987), where they won the 1984, 1985 and 1987 league titles and two

. Battiston then moved on to

(1987–1989), where they won the 1988 league title, before he returned to Bordeaux (1989–1991). His professional career lasted 18 seasons. Twenty-five years after his retirement, he remained in the top ten of players with the most appearances in League 1, occupying the third spot for non-goalkeepers.

International career

Battiston earned 56 caps for his national side, scoring three goals. He represented France in the

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

and

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal en ...

World Cups, and helped France to their victory in the

1982 World Cup incident

Battiston is particularly remembered for the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 ...

semi final in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...

, when

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

faced

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

. He came off the bench in the second half, and after ten minutes of play, following a through ball by Platini, Battiston was clear through the German defence racing towards goal. The German goalkeeper, Harald Schumacher, raced towards Battiston as the Frenchman took the shot, missing the goal. Schumacher leapt into the air, twisting his body and colliding with Battiston. In the process Schumacher's hip hit the Frenchman's face. Battiston, clattered, fell to the ground unconscious, with damaged

vertebrae The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates, Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristi ...

and teeth knocked out, later slipping into a coma. Emergency medics had to administer oxygen on the pitch.

Michel Platini Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a French football administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times in a row, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, a ...

later said that he thought that Battiston was dead, because "he had no pulse and looked pale". The Dutch referee Charles Corver did not give a foul, let alone send Schumacher off. Schumacher then proceeded to take the goal-kick and play resumed. After winning the game, the goalkeeper caused more controversy when he was told that Battiston had lost two teeth, and replied: "If that's all that's wrong with him, I'll pay him the crowns." Schumacher later apologised in person to Battiston, and the apology was accepted by Battiston. In his autobiography, ''Anpfiff'', published a couple of years later, Schumacher said the reason he did not go over to check on Battiston's condition was because a number of French players were standing around Battiston and making threatening gestures in his direction.

Private and later life

Battiston's paternal grandfather was Italian from

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

. His uncle

Raymond Battiston Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...

(born 1924) played for FC Metz between 1945 and 1953. He has two sons. After his retirement, Battiston joined the Bordeaux staff. He has held various positions, including sporting director, youth and reserve team coach and head of the youth academy. Under his leadership, the academy has produced players such as

Marouane Chamakh Marouane Chamakh (; ar, مروان الشماخ; born 10 January 1984) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is described as a prototypical target man and is noted for his "link-up play", "tall stature" and "excelle ...

Rio Mavuba Rio Antonio Zoba Mavuba (born 8 March 1984) is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He works as assistant manager at Bordeaux II. He spent most of his professional career with Bordeaux and Lille, winning the 201 ...

and Marc Planus.

Honours

Club

;Saint-Étienne *

: 1980–81 ;Bordeaux *

: 1983–84, 1984–85, 1986–87 *

: 1985–86 ;Monaco *

: 1987–88

International

UEFA European Football Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

: ''Third-Place''

: ''Fourth-Place''

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Battiston, Patrick 1957 births Living people People from Amnéville Sportspeople from Moselle (department) French footballers Association football defenders France international footballers Ligue 1 players FC Metz players AS Saint-Étienne players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players AS Monaco FC players Olympic footballers of France Footballers at the 1976 Summer Olympics 1978 FIFA World Cup players 1982 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1984 players 1986 FIFA World Cup players UEFA European Championship-winning players French people of Italian descent People of Venetian descent Footballers from Grand Est