Emmanuel "Manno" Sanon (25 June 1951 – 21 February 2008) was a Haitian 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, rugby lea ...

who played as a striker. He starred in the Haiti national team winning the 1973 CONCACAF Championship. Haiti qualified for the finals of the 1974 FIFA World Cup. Though they lost all three matches Sanon scored twice in the tournament. His goal against Italy when he ran onto a pass from Philippe Vorbe was the first conceded by Italian keeper Dino Zoff in 1,142 minutes of football. Sanon won his home

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

in 1971 with top-level Don Bosco. He then won the

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

in the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

in 1979 with the K. Beerschot V.A.C. Sanon is among the "Les 100 Héros de la Coupe du Monde" (''100 Heroes of the World Cup''), which included the top 100 World Cup Players from 1930 to 1990, a list drawn up in 1994 by the

France Football ''France Football'' is a French monthly 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 exclus ...

magazine based exclusively on their performances at World Cup level.

Early life

Sanon attended the Lycée de Pétion-Ville Secondary School.

Club career

Sanon spent four season with his home club Don Bosco, where he won the

in 1971. He then spent six seasons for the K. Beerschot V.A.C., where he won the

in 1979 with a decisive assist to Johan Coninx for the only goal scored. He would finish his tenure in the

, with 142 matches and 43 goals. In 1980, Sanon signed with the

Miami Americans The Miami Americans was an United States Soccer Federation, American soccer club based in Miami, Florida that was a member of the American Soccer League (1933-1983), American Soccer League. The team existed for only the 1980 season and played the ...

of the second division American Soccer League. When head coach Ron Newman left the team on 20 June 1980 to become the head coach of the San Diego Sockers of the first division

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

, he induced Sanon to also move to the Sockers. Sanon spent three seasons with the Sockers until he suffered a career ending knee injury.

International career

Sanon earned 65 caps and 37 goals for the

Haiti national football team The Haiti national football team (, Haitian Creole: ''Ekip foutbòl Ayiti'') represents Haiti in international Association football, football. Haiti is administered by the Haitian Football Federation, Fédération Haïtienne de Football (FHF), ...

1974 FIFA World Cup

Having qualified by first knocking out

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

in a play-off, then topping the final group in the capital

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

, Haiti was drawn into a very difficult group featuring two-time champions

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, future champions

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, who managed third place in the tournament. While they predictably finished last in the group with three losses and a -12 goal difference, Emmanuel Sanon scored both goals for the country in the tournament. He scored against Argentina in the last game of the group, but by far the most famous goal occurred against Italy. The ''Azzurri'' had not let in a goal in 19 games prior to the World Cup, thanks to goalkeeper

Dino Zoff Dino Zoff (; born 28 February 1942) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is the oldest ever ...

. In the opening of the second half, Sanon shocked the Italians with the opening goal. However this lead did not hold and Italy went on to win 3–1. By the time Haiti was tossed from the tournament after losing 7–0 to Poland and 4–1 to Argentina, Sanon had nonetheless cemented his place in footballing history.

Coaching career

Sanon coached the Haiti national team for a year from 1999 to 2000, during which he led his team to the

2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the fifth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), and the 15th overall CONCACAF tournament. It was held in Los Angeles, Miami, and San Diego ...

Death

On 21 February 2008, Emmanuel Sanon died in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

, of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

, aged 56. The Haitian Legislature voted to award a perpetual exempted pension to his family posthumously as an honorific gesture for scoring the goals in Haiti's 1974 FIFA World Cup participation.

Career statistics

''This list is not completed yet'' :''Scores and results list Haiti's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sanon goal.''

Honours

Don Bosco *

Ligue Haïtienne Ligue Haïtienne (; ''Haitian League''), is a Haitian professional league, governed by the Haitian Football Federation, for association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between ...

: 1971 Beerschot *

: 1978–79 *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( ; ; ), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian Pro League champions (also received the Super Cup host) and the Belgian Cup winners. If both teams are the same, ...

runner-up: 1979 San Diego Sockers * NASL Indoor season: 1981–82 Haiti * CONCACAF Championship:

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

; runner-up

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 ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

Individual * RSSSF CONCACAF Championship Team of The Tournament:

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

Top-100 1930–1990 * Haitian Athlete of the Century (1999) Orders *

National Order of Honour and Merit The National Order of Honour and Merit () is the highest honour of merit awarded by the President of the Republic of Haiti. The Order was instituted on 28 May 1926 and is awarded in five grades to both Haitians and foreign nationals. The award ...

: ''Commander'' (2007)

References

External links

* *
FIFA: Remembering Manno
(archived) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanon, Emmanuel 1951 births 2008 deaths Footballers from Port-au-Prince Haitian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Haiti men's international footballers CONCACAF Championship–winning players 1974 FIFA World Cup players Belgian Pro League players Ligue Haïtienne players American Soccer League (1933–1983) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players Don Bosco FC players K. Beerschot V.A.C. players Miami Americans players San Diego Sockers (1978–1996) players Haitian football managers Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Florida Haitian expatriate men's footballers Haitian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Haitian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States