Raymond Kopa (né Kopaszewski; 13 October 1931 – 3 March 2017) was a French professional

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 ...

, integral to the France national team of the 1950s. At club level he was part of the legendary

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

team of the 1950s, winning three

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

s. Often considered one of the best players of his generation, Kopa was an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who was quick, agile and known for his dribbling, playmaking, and prolific scoring. In 1958, Kopa was awarded the

Ballon d'Or The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual football award presented by French news magazine '' France Football'' since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year (f ...

. In 1970, he became the first football player to receive the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

, and in 2004,

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA ...

named him one of the 125 Greatest Living Footballers at a

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

Awards Ceremony.

Early and personal life

Kopa was born to a family of Polish immigrants. His grandparents were originally from

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

and migrated to Germany, where his parents were born. They then migrated to France after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. His surname was shortened to Kopa from Kopaszewski while he was at school. At the age of 14, he followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, father and brother by working in the coal mines of Nœux-les-Mines. During this time Kopa lost a finger in a mining accident. Kopa married Christiane, the sister of a teammate of his at Angers. After retiring from the game he launched his own sportswear brand, eventually settling in

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

. Kopa died in Angers on 3 March 2017, aged 85. Kopa was mentored by Paul Sinibaldi. Sinibaldi was godfather to Kopa's son.

Career

After finishing second in the French national youth football trials in 1949, Kopa began his professional career at age 17 with Angers in

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue ...

and was transferred two years later to

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded b ...

, with whom he won

French championships The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ve ...

in 1953 and 1955. He won the 1953 Latin Cup with Reims, where they defeated

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

3–0 in the final, and helped them reach the 1956 European Cup Final, which the team lost to

Alfredo Di Stéfano Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: *Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Fil ...

, 4–3. Kopa had first attracted attention in Spain when he played for

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 ...

against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

in a match in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

in March 1955, after which the Spanish sports newspaper '' Marca'' nicknaming him "Little Napoleon". Kopa was transferred to Real Madrid for the 1956–57 season, where he was soon joined by

Ferenc Puskás Ferenc Puskás (, ; born Ferenc Purczeld; 1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian football player and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. A forwar ...

. Despite playing as an inside right at Real Madrid rather than as the no. 10, his usual position, Kopa helped the club to three successive European cup victories and the Spanish league title in 1957 and 1958. Kopa was also the first French player to win the

when Madrid defeated

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

2–0 in the 1957 final. He would go on to be European champion again in 1958 and 1959, the latter against former side Reims, where Just Fontaine was playing. In the 1959–60 season, Kopa returned to France to finish his career with Reims, where he won further ''Championnats'' in 1960 and 1962. In total, he scored 75 goals in 346 matches in France's top flight, and was awarded the ''

Ballon d'or The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual football award presented by French news magazine '' France Football'' since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year (f ...

'' by ''

France Football ''France Football'' is a French weekly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclusi ...

'' in 1958. With the France national team, Kopa scored 18 goals in 45 matches between 1952 and 1962. He played in the

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the sixth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Brazil ...

in Sweden, where he performed outstandingly and was one of the players of the tournament, scoring three goals as he led France to the semi-finals, where they succumbed to a strong

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

team. The French team finished third in the tournament. In March 2004, Kopa was named by

as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers. In 2018,

Kopa Trophy The Kopa Trophy is an association football award presented to the best performing player under the age of 21. It is organised by ''France Football.'' The award is named after former French footballer Raymond Kopa and the winner is selected by f ...

, awarded to the best young football player in the calendar year was named in Raymond's honor. The first recipient was fellow Frenchman

Kylian Mbappé Kylian Mbappé Lottin (born 20 December 1998) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and the France national team. Considered one of the best players in the world, he is renowned for his dri ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list France's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kopa goal.''

Honours

Reims * Division 1: 1952–53, 1954–55, 1959–60, 1961–62 * Latin Cup:

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yugosl ...

* Division 2: 1965–66 Real Madrid *

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Banco Santander, Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaL ...

: 1956–57, 1957–58 *

: 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59 *Latin Cup: 1957 France *

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 has ...

third place:

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

Individual *

: 1958; runner-up: 1959; third place: 1956, 1957 * FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1958 *Etoile d'Or: 1960 *

French Player of the Year __FORCETOC__ The French Player of the Year is an association football award presented annually by the French magazine ''France Football'' since 1959. Originally, only French players playing in France were eligible, but from 1996 French players play ...

: 1960 * FIFA XI: 1963 *'' World Soccer'' World XI: 1963 * World Soccer: The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time * Golden Foot: 2006, as a football legend * UEFA President's Award: 2010 * FIFA 100 * 3rd French Player of the Century Orders *

Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

: 1970 * Officier of the Légion d'honneur: 2007

References

External links

* * * *
FootballDatabase profile and stats

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kopa, Raymond 1931 births 2017 deaths French people of Polish descent French footballers Association football midfielders Angers SCO players Stade de Reims players Real Madrid CF players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players La Liga players UEFA Champions League winning players Ballon d'Or winners FIFA 100 France international footballers 1954 FIFA World Cup players 1958 FIFA World Cup players French expatriate footballers French expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Sportspeople from Pas-de-Calais US Nœux-les-Mines players Footballers from Hauts-de-France