Maxime Jean Marcel Bossis (; born 26 June 1955) is a French retired professional

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 ...

who played as a defender. Bossis spent most of his career playing for Nantes, a club he helped win three Ligue 1 titles and one

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

. He obtained 76 caps (one goal) for the French national team, won the 1984 European Football Championship and played in two

World Cup 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 ...

semi-finals.

Club career

Bossis was born in

Saint-André-Treize-Voies Saint-André-Treize-Voies is a former commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Montréverd.Vendée Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

. A longtime starter for

FC Nantes Football Club de Nantes (; Gallo: ''Naunnt''), commonly referred to as FC Nantes or simply Nantes (), is a French professional football club based in Nantes in Pays de la Loire. The club was founded on 21 April 1943, during World War II, as a ...

during the club's most successful period during the 1970s and 1980s, he was noted chiefly as a full-back on the left flank, but filled in at various roles in defence. Bossis spent much of his time at right back during Nantes' championship-winning seasons in 1977 and 1980, in which Thierry Tusseau normally started on the left, but made the left back position his own beginning in 1981. Bossis helped Nantes to finish first or second in every season between 1976 and 1981. The club added a third title in 1983, finishing ten points ahead of second-place

Girondins Bordeaux Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux (), commonly referred to as Girondins de Bordeaux ( oc, Girondins de Bordèu) or simply Bordeaux, is a French professional football club based in the city of Bordeaux in Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The ...

. In 1985, Bossis moved to the ambitious

RC Paris Racing Club de France Football (, also known as Racing Paris, RCF Paris, Matra Racing, Racing Club, or Racing) is a French association football club based in Colombes, a suburb of Paris. Racing was founded in 1882 as a multi-discipline spor ...

, but the Parisian club achieved only modest success in spite of heavy spending that acquired such players as

Enzo Francescoli Enzo Francescoli Uriarte (; born 12 November 1961), nicknamed "El Príncipe" ("The Prince"), is a Uruguayan former footballer who played as a attacking midfielder. He is regarded as one of the best playmakers of his generation and as one of ...

and

Pierre Littbarski Pierre Michael Littbarski (; born 16 April 1960) is a German professional football manager and former player of 1. FC Köln and the West Germany national team. Known for his dribbling abilities, he was mainly used as an attacking midfielder or ...

. Bossis returned to Nantes for one final season in 1990, lining up next to future French international

Marcel Desailly Marcel Desailly (born Odenke Abbey; 7 September 1968) is a French former professional footballer, widely considered to be among the greatest centre-backs and defensive midfielders to ever play football. During a successful career at club level, l ...

before retiring from play. Bossis was named Footballer of the Year by

France Football ''France Football'' is a French weekly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclusi ...

in 1979 and 1981.Garin, Erik & Pierrend, Jose Luis
"France - Footballer of the Year"
. ''

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around th ...

'', 19 December 2013. Retrieved on 5 July 2014.

International career

Bossis also represented the France national team for ten years, appearing at the 1978, 1982, and

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

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 ...

, reaching the semifinals of the latter two editions of the tournament. He is mostly remembered for missing France's last penalty in the

1982 World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 i ...

semifinal against

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. While the score was tied at 4–4, Bossis missed the next penalty, allowing

Horst Hrubesch Horst Hrubesch (; born 17 April 1951) is a German professional football manager and former player who last managed Hamburger SV. As a player, Hrubesch won three West German championships with his club side, Hamburger SV, as well as the European C ...

to score the last penalty and send the Germans to the final. Bossis was also an important member of the France team that won the European Championship on home soil in 1984. From 1985 to 1992, he held the French record of caps, before fellow defender

Manuel Amoros Manuel Amoros (born 1 February 1962) is a French former professional footballer who played as a right-back. He was capped 82 times for France, and played in the UEFA European Championships finals of 1984 and 1992, and the FIFA World Cup finals ...

established a new mark with 82 caps. He also held the French record of matches played in the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

with 15, which was subsequently surpassed by Fabien Barthez in 2006.

Personal life

Bossis' younger brother, Joël, also played professional football and holds the all-time record for most goals scored for Chamois Niortais.

After retirement

After he retired in 1991, Bossis briefly embraced a career as a football executive, heading the

Central Commission (1993–1995) before he joined Saint-Étienne as sporting director (1996–1997). He then reinvented himself as a TV commentator, working first for TPS, then for Orange Sport and since 2014 for BeIn Sport.

Honours

Nantes * Ligue 1: 1976–77, 1979–80, 1982–83 *

: 1978–79 France *

UEFA European Football Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

Artemio Franchi Trophy Artemio is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Artemio Franchi (1922–1983), Italian football administrator *Artemio Lomboy Rillera (1947–2011), the Roman Catholic bishop of San Fernando de La Union, Philippines * Artemio Panga ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

: third place

; fourth place 1982 Individual * French Player of the Year: 1979, 1981

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bossis, Maxime 1955 births Living people Sportspeople from Vendée French footballers Association football defenders France international footballers 1978 FIFA World Cup players 1982 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1984 players 1986 FIFA World Cup players UEFA European Championship-winning players FC Nantes players Racing Club de France Football players Ligue 1 players French football managers AS Saint-Étienne managers Footballers from Pays de la Loire