Louis Pilot (11 November 1940 – 16 April 2016) was a Luxembourgian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. In November 2003, to celebrate

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

's jubilee, he was selected by the

Luxembourg Football Federation The Luxembourg Football Federation ( lb, Lëtzebuerger Foussballfederatioun; french: Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Football, FLF; german: Luxemburger Fußballföderation) is the governing body of football in Luxembourg. It organises the Luxembo ...

as the country's Golden Player - the greatest player of the last 50 years.

Playing career

Pilot started his footballing career at his home town club

CS Fola Esch Sporting Circle Fola Esch (french: Cercle sportif Fola Esch), usually abbreviated to Fola Esch or simply Fola, is a football club, based in Esch-sur-Alzette, in south-western Luxembourg. They play their home games at Stade Émile Mayrisch, in the ...

, before signing for

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

team

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

at the age of 20. He went on to play 337 times for Standard, winning 4 Belgian league titles and 2 Belgian cups and then moved onto

Royal Antwerp Royal Antwerp Football Club, often referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp, is a Belgian football club based in the city of Antwerp. Founded around 1880 as ''Antwerp Cricket Club'' by English students residing in Antwerp, 15 years before ...

and Racing Jet. Pilot also represented the national team, winning 49 caps between 1959 and 1971, scoring seven goals in this time. He played in 14

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches. He retired from playing football in 1978.

Manager career

Later that year, Pilot returned to Luxembourg and became the national team coach on 12 April, leading his nation in this capacity until 1984, when he became the head coach at the club where he had enjoyed his most successful playing period,

. He lasted only one season at Standard, before returning to Luxembourg and taking up similar roles at

Etzella Ettelbruck Foussballclub Etzella Ettelbréck, abbreviated to either FC Etzella or Etzella Ettelbruck, is a football club, based in Ettelbruck, in north-eastern Luxembourg. History In the 2005–06 season, Etzella finished third in the National Division, ...

and

FC Avenir Beggen Football Club Avenir Beggen is a football club, based in Beggen, a quarter of Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. The club were founded in 1915 as FC Daring Beggen but changed their name to FC Avenir Beggen a year later. In 1940, they were ...

, before assuming a less active role in football.

Honours (as a player)

Belgian League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

: 4 :: 1963, 1969, 1970, 1971 *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

: 2 :: 1966, 1967 *

Luxembourgian Footballer of the Year The Luxembourgian Footballer of the Year is an award granted every season to a football player from Luxembourg's domestic top-flight National Division, rewarding the player judged to have been the most valuable to his team that season. It is awar ...

: 4 :: 1966, 1970, 1971, 1972 * Luxembourgian Sportsman of the Year: 2 :: 1968, 1969

References

External links

Bio
- Profootball.lu
Standard stats
- Standard Liege

- UEFA * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pilot, Louis 1940 births 2016 deaths Sportspeople from Esch-sur-Alzette Luxembourgian footballers Luxembourgian expatriate footballers Luxembourg men's international footballers UEFA Golden Players CS Fola Esch players Standard Liège players Royal Antwerp F.C. players Expatriate footballers in Belgium Luxembourgian football managers Luxembourg national football team managers Belgian Pro League players Standard Liège managers FC Etzella Ettelbruck managers FC Avenir Beggen managers Luxembourgian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Men's association football midfielders