Alexis Thépot (30 July 1906 – 21 February 1989) 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 le ...

. He was the

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

of the France national team in the first two

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...

and

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

, and an Olympian.

Club career

Thépot was born in

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress *Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria *Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France **Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Brest, ...

Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.

. He played for Armoricaine de Brest (1922–1927), ''FEC Levallois'' (1927–28),

Red Star FC Red Star Football Club, also known simply as Red Star (), is a French association football club founded in Paris in 1897, and is the fourth oldest French football club, after Standard AC of Paris, Le Havre AC and Girondins de Bordeaux. In t ...

(1928–1935), and USL Dunkerque (1935–1936). After a good year with Levallois, he was selected to play his first international match against England in 1927.

International career

From 1927 to 1935, Thépot played in 31 international matches, conceding 77 goals, and was captain of the French team 13 times. Thépot appeared in France's first ever World Cup match against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in 1930, although he had to abandon the match during the first half due to an injury, being replaced in goal by

half One half ( : halves) is the irreducible fraction resulting from dividing one by two or the fraction resulting from dividing any number by its double. Multiplication by one half is equivalent to division by two, or "halving"; conversely, ...

Augustin Chantrel Augustin Chantrel (11 November 1906 - 4 September 1956) was a French footballer who played as a halfback. He represented France at the 1928 Olympic Football Tournament and at the 1930 FIFA World Cup. Club career * 1924-1925 : Paris Univer ...

. Thépot would come back and play in the next two matches, but his team was unable to go past the group stage, losing to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

1–0 on a late goal, and 1–0 to

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, despite having saved a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

while the match was still 0–0. He played France's only match at the

1928 Olympic Games 1928 Olympics may refer to: *The 1928 Winter Olympics, which were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland *The 1928 Summer Olympics, which were held in Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most po ...

, a 4–3 loss to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thepot, Alex 1906 births 1989 deaths Sportspeople from Brest, France Association football goalkeepers French footballers Footballers from Brittany Stade Brestois 29 players Red Star F.C. players USL Dunkerque players France international footballers Olympic footballers of France Footballers at the 1928 Summer Olympics 1930 FIFA World Cup players 1934 FIFA World Cup players