Raymond Ernest Michel Braine (28 April 1907 – 24 December 1978) was a Belgian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

striker. He was also the first Belgian professional player, when he obtained a transfer to

Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in central Europe, winning t ...

in 1930. Braine played in 54 matches for the

Belgium national football team The Belgium national football team has represented Belgium in men's international Association football, football since Évence Coppée Trophy, their maiden match in 1904. The squad is under the global jurisdiction of FIFA and is governed in E ...

and scored 26 times, making him Belgium's 5th top all-time scorer.

Career highlights

His first club was

Beerschot Koninklijke Beerschot Voetbalclub Antwerpen (), or simply Beerschot, is a Belgian professional football club located in Antwerp, that competes in the top tier Pro League after promotion from second tier in 2023–24 season. In 2013, KFCO Wil ...

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

. Braine made his Belgian Championship debut on 11 February 1923 against

Daring Club de Bruxelles Royal Daring Club Molenbeek was a football (soccer), football team from the city of Brussels, Belgium until . It was created in as Daring Club de Bruxelles and was the second club to register to the Belgian Football Association (it thus receiv ...

(lost 3-0). He scored 4 times in 4 appearances that season and Beerschot finished second. Raymond's brother,

Pierre Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

, was also part of the team. The next year, Braine obtained his first trophy by earning a Championship title. Three more titles followed in 1925, 1926 and 1928. He was also part of Belgium's team at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...

. At the time, the Belgian football was not a professional club. However, certain players did receive money (unofficially) based on performance. Some other players supplemented their incomes by opening cafés. At one point the Belgian Football Association published a paper stating: "Considering it is important to stop the progression of player-café owners, the executive Committee takes the decision that at this day, except for a player whose parents ran the café for more than 5 years, the authorisation to open a café will be subordinated to the condition that the player will not be a part of the first team." Braine, who just opened a café in December 1929, decided to go and play abroad. His first attempt was in

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 ...

with London side Clapton Orient, but he could not obtain a work permit. He signed a lucrative contract in 1930 with

and subsequently became the first Belgian professional player. With Sparta, Braine won

Czechoslovak First League The Czechoslovak First League (, ) was the premier football (soccer), football league in the Czechoslovakia from 1925 to 1993, with the exception of World War II. Czechoslovakia was occupied by German forces who formed Gauliga Sudetenland and Ga ...

titles in

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

and

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...

, as well as 1935's

Mitropa Cup The Mitropa Cup, officially called Coupe de l'Europe Centrale, Mitteleuropäischer Pokal or Central European Cup, was one of the first international major European association football, football cups for club sides. It was conducted among the suc ...

. He finished as top scorer twice with Sparta Prague. Before the 1934 World Cup, Braine had received an offer of 100,000 Koruna from the Czechoslovak FA to become a citizen of

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

which he refused. Afterwards, Czechoslovakia lost the final game to

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 ...

. He came back to Beerschot in 1937 and won the Championship twice again. This time, he played in the

1938 World Cup The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the 3rd edition of the World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in France from 4 to 19 June 1938. Italy defended its title in the final, beating Hungar ...

. In 1943, Braine was transferred to C.S. La Forestoise as a defender for one season, a team that had just been promoted the year before to the first division, because of the

War War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

Honours

Club

Beerschot VAC

Belgian First Division 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– ...

: 1923-24, 1924-25, 1925-26, 1927-28, 1937-38, 1938-39

Sparta Prague

- 1931-32, 1935-36 *

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

Individual

* Belgian First Division top scorer: 1927-28 (35 goals), 1928-29 (30 goals) * Czechoslovak First League top scorer: 1931-32 (16 goals), 1933-34 (18 goals) * Belgian Golden Shoe of the 20th Century (1995): 7th place *

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

Europe - Player of the Century nomination (2000) *IFFHS All Time Belgium Dream Team (2021)

References

External links

List of Czechoslovakia championship top scorers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Braine, Raymond 1907 births 1978 deaths Footballers from Antwerp Belgian men's footballers Belgian expatriate men's footballers Belgium men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Olympic footballers for Belgium Footballers at the 1928 Summer Olympics 1938 FIFA World Cup players AC Sparta Prague players Expatriate men's footballers in Czechoslovakia K. Beerschot V.A.C. players Czechoslovak First League players 20th-century Belgian sportsmen