Bernard Guignedoux (31 January 1947 – 1 January 2021) was a French professional football player and manager. He is known for being the first goal-scorer in the history of

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As F ...

Playing career

Guignedoux was a graduate of the RC Paris academy. He played one season with the club in the Division 2 before joining

Stade Saint-Germain Stade Saint-Germain was a French football club active between 1904 and 1970, at which time it merged with Paris FC in 1970 to form Paris Saint-Germain. It was based in the town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The club's best performance in the Coup ...

in 1966, where he continued studies while playing third tier football. In 1970, Stade Saint-Germain merged with

Paris FC Paris Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris FC or simply PFC, is a French professional football club based in Paris, that competes in the Ligue 2, the second tier of French football. Paris FC play their home matches at the Stade C ...

to create

; therefore, Guignedoux joined the newly formed club. Bernard Guignedoux Panini (cropped)

Guignedoux made his debut for PSG in the first game of the club's history on 23 August 1970, a 1–1 league draw against

Poitiers Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglome ...

. He scored the first goal in PSG history as he found the top-left corner from a shot on a free-kick. In an interview with ''PSG70'' in 2005, Guignedoux recalled his favorite memory from his time as a PSG player being the promotion to the Division 1 in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

. "There was extraordinary enthusiasm. I remember the construction of the team with the merging of experienced professionals and young players. It was a fabulous year," he said. Guignedoux's final match for PSG was a 1–0 loss against

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...

on 27 May 1972. In 1972, Paris Saint-Germain split into two, with the re-formed Paris FC staying in the first division, and PSG getting the reserve players while being relegated to the third tier. As Guignedoux had a professional contract at the club, he joined Paris FC and left Paris Saint-Germain. Two years later, in 1974, he joined

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word ...

, who were also competing in the Division 1. After three seasons in Monaco, Guignedoux returned to his former club Paris FC. He spent three years at the club before retiring in 1980, at the age of 33.

Post-playing career

Guignedoux's involvement with football did not end after retiring from the sport itself. Firstly, in 1980, he became a

physiotherapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, pat ...

for his former club Paris FC. He then spent a short amount of time as a P.E. teacher before becoming the coach of the Paris Saint-Germain C team in 1981. After eleven years at the position of PSG's C team coach, Guignedoux became the coach of PSG's under-15 squad. He stayed there for seven years before returning to his former role of C team coach in 1999. In July 2001, Guignedoux once again left the role of PSG C team coach, this time to be part of PSG's

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

. He returned to the PSG C team in February 2002, only to go back to his position in the youth academy five months later. In October 2003, Guignedoux became the assistant manager of Strasbourg, under the direction of Antoine Kombouaré. Twelve months later, he stepped down from the position to become a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement * Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

for the club's youth academy. In June 2005, Guignedoux joined

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a ...

as the assistant manager of the club, once again in a collaboration with Kombouaré. Valenciennes won the

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 Ligu ...

and achieved promotion in Guignedoux's first season as assistant coach. From 2009 to June 2012, Guignedoux was the technical director in the amateur departments of Paris Saint-Germain. On 16 December 2012, Guignedoux honored

Ezequiel Lavezzi Ezequiel Iván Lavezzi (; born 3 May 1985) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a forward. During his career, his most important attributes were his pace, hardworking style of play, technique, creativity, and dribbling ab ...

with a trophy for being the scorer of the 3,000th goal in PSG history; Guignedoux was the first ever scorer for the club, back in 1970.

Health issues and death

On 12 April 2020, at the age of 73, Guignedoux was

hospitalized A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergency ...

. This was due to an unnamed "serious disease" he contracted, which left his health condition deteriorating. Guignedoux died on 1 January 2021, at the age of 73.

Career statistics

Honours

Player

Paris Saint-Germain * Division 2: 1970–71 Individual * Division 2 Player of the Year: 1970

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guignedoux, Bernard 1947 births 2021 deaths French footballers French football managers Sportspeople from Saint-Germain-en-Laye Association football forwards Racing Club de France Football players Levallois SC players Stade Saint-Germain players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players Paris FC players AS Monaco FC players Valenciennes FC managers RC Strasbourg Alsace managers Ligue 2 players Ligue 1 players Ligue 1 managers Ligue 2 managers French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Monaco French expatriate sportspeople in Monaco French physiotherapists Paris Saint-Germain F.C. non-playing staff Championnat de France Amateur (1935–1971) players Footballers from Yvelines