René Bihel (2 September 1916 – 8 September 1997) was a French professional

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 ...

player who became a trainer.

Biography

His first appearance was in 1929 with the US Trèfileries youth team in

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

. He played professionally as a centre forward at

US Valenciennes-Anzin Valenciennes Football Club (; commonly known as Valenciennes, VA or VAFC) is a Football in France, French professional association football, football club based in Valenciennes. The club was founded in 1914 and currently play in Championnat Nat ...

from 1938 to 1939. In 1944, he moved to

Lille OSC Lille Olympique Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as LOSC, LOSC Lille or simply Lille, is a French professional association football, football club based in Lille, Northern France competing in Ligue 1, the top division of Football in Franc ...

. He also played for

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

SC Toulon Sporting Club Toulon is a football club from Toulon, France, that plays in the Championnat National 2, the fourth tier of the French football league system. The club was founded in 1944 and played under that name until the 1999–2000 season ...

and

RC Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace, commonly known as RC Strasbourg (, ; RCS) or simply just Racing, is a French professional association football club founded in 1906 and based in the city of Strasbourg, Alsace. It became a professional club in ...

. Nicknamed ''le taureau normand'' (the Norman bull) he was selected six times and scored one goal for the France national team between 1945 and 1947. During the period from 1934 to 1951 as a professional club footballer, he played 239 matches and scored a total 177 registered goals. After his career as a player, he became a trainer at Havre AC (1953), and later at

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher Departments of France, department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the mos ...

Honours

* Champion of France D1 1946 with Lille and 1948 with Marseille. * Winner of the Coupe de France 1946 with Lille and 1951 with Strasbourg. * Finalist Coupe de France 1945 with Lille * Top goal scorer in the championship of France D1 1945–46 with 28 goals.

External links

StatisticsProfile

References

1916 births 1997 deaths People from Montivilliers French people of German descent French men's footballers France men's international footballers Valenciennes FC players Le Havre AC players Lille OSC players Olympique de Marseille players SC Toulon players RC Strasbourg Alsace players Ligue 1 players French football managers Le Havre AC managers US Quevilly-Rouen Métropole players Blois Football 41 players Men's association football forwards Footballers from Seine-Maritime SC Fives players 20th-century French sportsmen {{france-footy-forward-1910s-stub