Pierre Pibarot (23 July 1916 – 26 November 1981) 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 ...

and manager.

Playing career

Born on 23 July 1916, in

Alès Alès () is a Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania Regions of France, region in Southern France. Until 1926, i ...

, Pibarot is a product of the

Olympique Alès Olympique Alès is a French association football club founded in 1923, based in the commune of Alès. The Cévennes club currently plays in Championnat National 2, the fourth division of the French football league system. The club in the past ...

youth programme. He left the club briefly in 1932 to play for the now-defunct sporting club attached to the

lycée In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between ...

Victor Hugo-de-Marseille. He returned to Olympique Alès in 1934, and was part of the team that won the

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, 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 de Football Prof ...

championship the following season. His promising playing career was cut short by a leg injury he received at the

Battle of Narvik The Battles of Narvik were fought from 9 April to 8 June 1940, as a naval battle in Ofotfjord and as a land battle in the mountains surrounding the north Norwegian town of Narvik, as part of the Norwegian Campaign of the Second World War. Th ...

in 1940; his short-lived return to professional play for Nancy was terminated when he turned manager in 1944, at the age of 29, after being part of the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

winning Nancy side.

Post-playing career

His old club Olympique Alès offered him the manager's position in 1945; he used the following four years to perfect the 'line defence" technique. In 1949, he moved to

Nîmes Olympique Nîmes Olympique (commonly referred to as simply Nîmes) is a French association football club based in Nîmes. The club was founded on 12 April 1937 and currently plays in the Championnat National, the third tier of French football. The Sta ...

, which team too he took up to

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

, before being tapped to bring his skills to the

France national team France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in 1955. He had already been involved as a technical strategist with the team as early as their friendly against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1951. He ended his career with stints at

RCF Paris Racing Club de France Football, commonly known as Racing Club de France (), is a French football club based in the Paris suburb of Colombes. The club was founded in 1882 as a multi-discipline sports club, and is one of the oldest clubs in Fr ...

. In recognition of his contributions to the science of defence and his excellence as a trainer, the main stadium at France's football academy at Clairefontaine was named for him. The stadium of Olympique Alès, where he is something of a hometown hero, is also named for him in memory of his contributions to the team as player and manager.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pibarot, Pierre 1916 births 1981 deaths People from Alès French men's footballers Olympique Alès players French football managers France national football team managers 1954 FIFA World Cup managers Nîmes Olympique managers French military personnel of World War II INF Vichy managers Racing Club de France Football managers Men's association football defenders Footballers from Gard 20th-century French sportsmen