Roger Piantoni
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Roger Piantoni (26 December 1931 – 26 May 2018) 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 ...
who played as an
inside-forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...
and was a star on the French national team in the late 1950s. During the 1949–1950 season, he was the champion of Lorraine with his team, and was the top scorer in the league with 35 goals. At the 1958 World Cup, Piantoni was considered one of the best French players of his time. He was nicknamed ''Bout d'chou'', meaning "Cabbage Tip", ranking as the sixth top scorer in the French Championship with a total of 203 goals in Division 1.


Early life

Roger Piantoni spent his youth in the mining town of La Mourière, in the community of Piennes in Meurthe-et-Moselle. There he was known for playing with
Thadée Cisowski Thadée Cisowski (16 February 1927 – 24 February 2005), originally Tadeusz Cisowski, was a French former footballer who played as a striker. A son of Polish immigrants, he was one of the best goalscorers in Championnat de France. In the Worl ...
in the local club, US Piennes. In 1948, with the youth team of Lorraine, he won the National Youth Cup by beating a youth team from the South-East in the championship.
Henri Biancheri Henri Biancheri (30 July 1932 – 1 December 2019) was a French association football player and sports executive. He played midfielder for 14 seasons including seven at AS Monaco FC where he was a member of two Ligue 1 championship squads and t ...
and Francis Méano were also on the South-Eastern team. He also played later against
Raymond Kopa Raymond Kopa (né Kopaszewski; 13 October 1931 – 3 March 2017) was a French professional footballer, integral to the France national team of the 1950s. At club level he was part of the legendary Real Madrid team of the 1950s, winning three Eu ...
szewski who was on a northern youth team. The following year, he was accepted onto the French Junior team for the European championship. However, he performed poorly due to insufficient cardio. Fellow French national team player Michel Plantini later experienced the same disappointment.


Club career


Nancy

Piantoni began his career at the age of 19 with
FC Nancy Football club de Nancy was a French association football team playing in the city of Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle. The team was founded in 1901 and dissolved in 1968. Honours * Coupe de France finalist in 1953, 1962 * Division 2 in 1946 (North ...
during 1950–1951 season. In the first match of the championships, against RC Lens on 27 August 1950, he scored two goals. In his first season, he managed to become the top scorer of the championship with 27 goals. He scored five goals on the 28th day against
Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...
(6–1) and two quadruples (four goals) during the return match against RC Lens (4–2) and
RC Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (commonly known as RC Strasbourg, Racing Straßburg, RCSA, RCS, or simply Strasbourg; Alsatian: ''Füeßbàllmànnschàft Vu Stroßburri'') is a French association football club founded in 1906, based in the c ...
on the final day (5–1). In November 1952, in a friendly match against Ireland, he was selected to join the French national team for the first time. Over the course of seven seasons with FC Nancy, he scored a total of 92 goals. He and his teammates achieve some top performances in the Coupe de France. They reached the semi-finals of the season of 1950–1951, and the finals in 1953 (which was played on 31 May in
Colombes Colombes () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. In 2019, Colombes was the 53rd largest city in France. Name The name Colombes comes from Latin ''columna'' (Old French ''colombe'') ...
.) FC Nancy, led by
Jacques Favre Jacques Favre (6 May 1921 – 8 May 2008) was a French football player and manager who played as a goalkeeper. Born in Laon, Aisne, he played for Reims, Nice and FC Nancy. He coached FC Nancy, Metz, Gent, Roubaix-Tourcoing, Angoulême, AS Nancy ...
, lost 2–1 against Lille. A few months later, on 23 September 1953, FC Nancy beat
Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
4–2 on their Chamartin field (later renamed Santiago Bernabéu) in a friendly match. This match was remarkable as the official debuts of Piantoni for FC Nancy, and Alfredo Di Stéfano for Madrid. However, FC Nancy faced major financial problems. During the 1956–1957 season, they were demoted to the second division and the club was forced to let its best players go. Piantoni was transferred for 250,000 francs (25 million former francs before 1960, which is about $256,000 US) to Stade de Reims which had just sold
Raymond Kopa Raymond Kopa (né Kopaszewski; 13 October 1931 – 3 March 2017) was a French professional footballer, integral to the France national team of the 1950s. At club level he was part of the legendary Real Madrid team of the 1950s, winning three Eu ...
to
Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...
.


Reims

At
Stade de Reims Stade de Reims () is a French professional association football, football club based in Reims. The club was formed in 1910 and plays in Ligue 1, the top level of Football in France, having been promoted from Ligue 2 in 2017–18 Ligue 2, 2018. ...
, along with Just Fontaine and Jean Vincent, Piantoni won the France championship. In 1958, with the help of his teammates, they landed in the capital of Champagne. They quickly forgot the departure of Raymond Kopa, the hero of the Stage Auguste-Delaune, who left a year earlier for Real Madrid. In March 1958, Piantoni recorded a quadruple against the regional rival, Sedan. On 1 May, Reims were French champions, giving Piantoni his first national trophy just a few weeks before the 1958 French Cup. He scored 17 goals in 32 games in the 1957–1958 season, then scored a further 20 goals the following season. It appeared to be the perfect match with Just Fontaine on the front of the attack, and they dominated the championship of France during the 1950s and the early 1960s. At that time, Piantoni and several of his teammates also participated in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, where
Albert Batteux Albert Batteux (2 July 1919 – 28 February 2003) was a French football midfielder and a manager. He is the most successful manager in the history of Ligue 1 having won eight domestic titles, twice reaching the European Cup final and a third-p ...
(the coach, also his club coach, was beaten in the semifinal by Brazil). After his exploits in Sweden, Piantoni returned with the Rémois but the defending championship team was struggling; it finished fourth with eight points at the end of the year. As an individual, he found success with 20 goals in 30 matches. On the European stage, the Reims reached their second European Cup final of the champions clubs in their history. In a final in Stuttgart on 3 June 1959, they lost to Real Madrid (0–2), in the European champion title game. A few weeks after the end of this remarkable European run, Piantoni and his teammates took the field for the 1959–1960 edition of the French championship. The scored 109 goals in 38 matches. This remarkable dominance was matched only by RC Paris, the only other club able to compete with them offensively. With two titles already for Piantoni, he scored 18 goals that season (ten fewer than Fontaine). The 1960–61 season was less glorious for Stade de Reims who finished seven points behind AS Monaco in May, due to the serious injury that hit their star forward Fontaine just a few months earlier. He had a double fracture in his leg, effectively ending his career. As a result of this injury, Fontaine ended discussions for a possible transfer of Piantoni to the Argentinian club of River Plate. Piantoni then became the team's leading scorer, and the country's best playmaker that season, eleven years after his title as top scorer with FC Nancy. In the international match up of France-Bulgaria, 11 October 1959, he was injured by
Nikola Kovatchev Nikola () is a given name which, like Nicholas, is a version of the Greek ''Nikolaos'' (Νικόλαος). It is common as a masculine given name in the South Slavic countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Monteneg ...
, who broke his knee. The injury required several operations and made a lasting impact on the rest of his career. This recurring injury caused him to go through long periods of rehabilitation where he was unable to play. In his last three seasons in Reims, from 1961 to 1964, he played only 37 league games, achieving 23 goals. In 1961–1962, they won their sixth national title and, despite his physical problems, he achieved 16 goals in just 18 matches. He scored his last goal with the Champenois on 3 May 1964, during a home game defeat (1–4) against Valenciennes.


Nice

In 1964, Piantoni joined
OGC Nice Olympique Gymnaste Club Nice Côte d'Azur (), commonly referred to as OGC Nice or simply Nice, is a French professional football club based in Nice. The club was founded in 1904 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football. ...
, in the second division, where he played a full season. The Niçois won the second division championship and gained their promotion in the 1st division for the following season, after which he announced his retirement.


International career

Piantoni received his first selection on 16 November 1952, in a friendly match in Dublin between the French team and Ireland (1–1). Piantoni tied the score for French at the 67th minute mark. In 1954, he did not participate in the World Cup in Switzerland. Injured a few months earlier during a France-Italy, he was unable to recover in time. Selected for the
1958 World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the sixth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Brazil be ...
, he was one of the French players who brought the team to the semifinals, losing to the Pele's Brazilian team (2–5). Teaming with Just Fontaine and Raymond Kopa, Piantoni played the first five games where he scored four goals, including the second in the semi-final against the Seleção. Due to emergency surgery for appendicitis, he did not play during the game against Germany, whom they beat 6–3 to secure third place. He played his last match with Les Bleus on 28 September 1961, a qualifying match for the
1962 World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place be ...
in Chile against Finland (5–1). In the 79th minute of play on a free kick, he scored the last goal of his international career. From 1952 to 1961, Piantoni played 37 matches under the blue jersey, scoring 18 goals.


Post-playing career

After leaving Nice he became coach of the club of Carpentras from 1967 to 1971. He was later a member of the Federal Council of the
French Football Federation The French Football Federation ( FFF; french: Fédération Française de Football) is the governing body of football in France. It also includes the overseas departments ( Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte and Réunion), the over ...
(FFF) from 29 August 1970 to 31 December 1988. He remained attached to the Lorraine and the club of Nancy. He also worked for several years as a commentator on football matches on Antenne 2 alongside Michel Drucker and Bernard Père. A tribune at the Stade Marcel Picot, where AS Nancy-Lorraine is, bears his name.


Honours

Reims * Division 1: 1957–58, 1959–60, 1961–62 * Coupe de France: 1957–58 *Coupe Mohamed V: 1962 *
European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
runner-up: 1958–59 France * FIFA World Cup third place:
1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...
Individual * Division 1 top scorer: 1950–51, 1960–61


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Piantoni, Roger 1931 births 2018 deaths 1958 FIFA World Cup players Association football forwards FC Nancy players France international footballers French footballers Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players OGC Nice players Sportspeople from Meuse (department) Stade de Reims players