Louis Strittmatter (1 August 1875 – unknown) was a French

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 defender for

Club Français Club Français was a French association football club based in Paris which was founded in 1890. Club Français won the 1896 USFSA Football Championship and the 1931 Coupe de France. In 1900 the USFSA elected players from Club Français to r ...

in the 1890s.

Playing career

Club career

Born on 1 August 1875 in the

9th arrondissement of Paris The 9th arrondissement of Paris (''IXe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as (; "ninth"). The arrondissement, called Opéra, is located on the right bank of th ...

, Strittmatter was one of the first players of Club Français, which had been founded in October 1892, and which joined the

USFSA U.S. Figure Skating is the national Sports governing body, governing body for the sport of figure skating in the United States. It is recognized as such by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) under the Amateur Sports Act of 1 ...

in March 1894; in the following month, on 22 April, the 19-year-old Strittmatter started as a defender in the semifinal of the inaugural USFSA championship, which ended in a 0–1 loss to

The White Rovers The White Rovers, also known as White Rovers Paris, was a French amateur football club based in Paris which existed between 1891 and 1899. The club was founded in 1891 by Englishman Jack Wood, who had formerly played football in his home country ...

. Together with

Lucien Huteau Lucien Paul Noël Huteau (26 May 1878 – 16 February 1975) was a French footballer who played as a goalkeeper and who competed in the football tournament at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, winning a silver medal as a member of the USFSA Olympi ...

Gaston Peltier Gaston Peltier (2 August 1877 – unknown) was a French Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), Forward and who competed in the Football at the 1900 Summer Olympics, football tournament at the 1900 Olympic ...

Georges Garnier Jean Marie Georges Garnier (14 May 1878 – 2 February 1936) was a French Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward and who competed in the Football at the 1900 Summer Olympics, football tournament a ...

, and

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Eugène Fraysse Jean Eugène Fraysse (4 May 1870 – 1 May 1950) was a French footballer who played as a forward. He founded Club Français in 1892, becoming its first captain and leading the club to multiple trophies in the late 20th century, including the 18 ...

, he was a starting midfielder in the Club Français team that won the

1896 USFSA Football Championship The 1896 USFSA Football Championship was the 3rd staging of the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques#Football, USFSA Football Championship. The tournament is also known as 1896 Paris Football Championship because only clubs from ...

, doing so without losing a single match. On 26 December 1897, Strittmatter started in the very first football match in the history of the

Parc des Princes The Parc des Princes (, ) is an all-seater stadium, all-seater football stadium in Paris, France. It is located in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin (P ...

in front of 500 spectators, in which Club Français was defeated 1–3 by the English Ramblers; during the match, he scored a goal from a free kick, but it was disallowed since no one had touched the ball. Three months later, on 28 March, he started as a midfielder for Club Français in the 1898

Coupe Manier The Coupe Manier was a Association football, football competition in France that ran from 1897 until 1911. Only clubs that fielded no more than three foreigners were allowed to participate in the competition, which at the time was mainly British p ...

final at the

Vélodrome de Vincennes The Vélodrome de Vincennes (officially Vélodrome Jacques Anquetil - La Cipale) is a cycling stadium in the Bois de Vincennes, Paris, France. Initially built as a velodrome in 1894, it became the main stadium for the 1900 Summer Olympics; Even ...

, helping his side to a 10–0 win over

Paris Star The Paris Star was a football team based in Paris that existed between 1894 and 1963. In 1917, the club played with a khaki jersey. History Early history Founded in 1894, Paris Star participated in the USFSA Football Championship between 1895 and ...

. In the following week, on 3 April, he started in the final of the

1898 USFSA Football Championship The 1898 USFSA Football Championship was the 5th staging of the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques#Football, USFSA Football Championship. It was played on neutral grounds, in a league system with Standard Athletic Club being p ...

against Standard AC at

Courbevoie Courbevoie () is a Communes of France, commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine department of the Île-de-France region of France. It is a suburb of Paris, from the Kilometre zero, center of Paris. The centre of Courbevoie is situated from the ci ...

, being seriously injured in the first-half, which interrupted the match, and without him, CF lost 2–3. This injury seems to have ended his career since he never again appears in the line-up of a CF match.

Later life

On 1 April 1907, on the occasion of a match between the English club

Old Etonians This is a list of notable former pupils of Eton College, a 13–18 public fee-charging and boarding secondary school for boys in Eton, Berkshire, England. Former pupils of the school are known as Old Etonians. Former pupils Politics *Robert ...

and the so-called ''Vieilles Gloires'' ("Old Glories"), a team made up of fellow retired players from the 1890s, the 32-year-old Strittmatter, who had been living in Lille for ten years, returned to Paris to reunite his former CF teammates, such as Garnier and Ernest Weber; he only watched the match. The date of his death remains unknown.

Honours

;Club Français *

USFSA Football Championship U.S. Figure Skating is the national Sports governing body, governing body for the sport of figure skating in the United States. It is recognized as such by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) under the Amateur Sports Act of 1 ...

: **Champions (1):

1896 Events January * January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end as Jameson surrenders to the Boers. * January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. * January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports Wilhelm Röntgen's dis ...

**Runner-up (3):

1898 Events January * January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queen ...

: **Champions (1): 1898

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strittmatter, Louis 1875 births Year of death missing French men's footballers Men's association football defenders Footballers from Paris Club Français players 20th-century French sportsmen