Raymond Kopa

Raymond Kopa
	Kopa in 1963
Personal information
Full name	Raymond Kopaszewski[1]
Date of birth	13 October 1931[1]
Place of birth	Nœux-les-Mines, France[1]
Date of death	3 March 2017 (aged 85)
Place of death	Angers, France
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)[1]
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
1941–1949	Nœux-les-Mines
Senior career*
Years	Team
1949–1951	Angers
1951–1956	Reims
1956–1959	Real Madrid
1959–1967	Reims
Total
National team
1952–1962	France
Honours
Representing France
FIFA World Cup
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Raymond Kopa (Raymond Kopaszewski; 13 October 1931 – 3 March 2017) was a professional French football player. He has played for France national team and for Real Madrid.

In 1970 he became the first football player to receive the Légion d'honneur, and in 2004, Pelé named him one of the 125 Greatest Living Footballers at a FIFA Awards Ceremony.

Early life

Kopa was born to a family of Polish immigrants in Nœux-les-Mines, France.[2]

Career

After finishing second in the French national youth football trials in 1949, Kopa began his professional career at the age of 17 with SCO Angers in Ligue 2 and was transferred two years later to Reims, with whom he won French championships in 1953 and 1955.

He won the 1953 Latin Cup with Stade de Reims, where they defeated AC Milan 3–0 in the final, and helped them reach the 1956 European Cup Final, which the team lost to Alfredo Di Stéfano's Real Madrid, 4–3.

Kopa was also the first French player to win the European Cup when Madrid defeated Fiorentina 2–0 in the 1957 final. He would go on to be European champion again in 1958 and 1959, the last against former side Stade de Reims, where Just Fontaine played.

In the 1959–60 season, Kopa returned to France to finish his career with Reims, where he won further Championnats in 1960 and 1962. In total, he scored 75 goals in 346 matches in France's top flight, and was given the Ballon d'or by France Football in 1958.[3]

With the France national football team, Kopa scored 18 goals in 45 games between 1952 and 1962. He played in the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden.

Death

Kopa died in Angers, France on 3 March 2017, aged 85.[4]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[5]
Club	Season	League			National cup		Continental		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Angers	1949–50	Division 2
	1950–51	Division 2
	Total
Reims	1951–52	Division 1	33	8
	1952–53		33	13
	1953–54		31	11
	1954–55		31	11
	1955–56		30	5
	Total		158	48
Real Madrid	1956–57	La Liga	22	6	0	0	8	2	30	8
	1957–58		27	8	0	0	7	3	34	11
	1958–59		30	10	0	0	7	1	37	11
	Total		79	24	0	0	22	6	101	30
Reims	1959–60	Division 1	36	14
	1960–61		30	5
	1961–62		30	2
	1962–63		34	1
	1963–64		25	5
	1964–65	Division 2	29	3
	1965–66	Division 2	27	3
	1966–67	Division 1	33	3
	Total		244	36
Career total			541	123

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
France	1952	5	2
	1953	6	3
	1954	6	4
	1955	6	4
	1956	1	0
	1957	0	0
	1958	7	4
	1959	4	0
	1960	3	1
	1961	3	0
	1962	4	0
Total		45	18

Scores and results list France's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kopa goal.

List of international goals scored by Raymond Kopa[6]
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Competition
1	11 November 1952	Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Paris, France	Northern Ireland	3–1	Friendly
2	11 November 1952	Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Paris, France	Northern Ireland	3–1	Friendly
3	14 May 1953	Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Paris, France	Wales	6–1	Friendly
4	14 May 1953	Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Paris, France	Wales	6–1	Friendly
5	20 September 1953	Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg, Luxembourg	Luxembourg	6–1	1954 FIFA World Cup Q.
6	30 May 1954	Stade Heysel, Brussels, Belgium	Belgium	3–3	Friendly
7	19 June 1954	Charmilles Stadium, Geneva, Switzerland	Mexico	3–2	1954 FIFA World Cup
8	11 November 1954	Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Paris, France	Belgium	2–2	Friendly
9	11 November 1954	Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Paris, France	Belgium	2–2	Friendly
10	17 March 1955	Estadio Chamartín, Madrid, Spain	Spain	21	Friendly
11	15 May 1955	Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Paris, France	England	1–0	Friendly
12	9 October 1955	St. Jakob Stadium, Basel, Switzerland	Switzerland	2–1	Friendly
13	23 October 1955	Dinamo Stadium, Moscow, Soviet Union	Soviet Union	2–2	Friendly
14	8 June 1958	Idrottsparken, Norrköping, Sweden	Paraguay	7–3	1958 FIFA World Cup
15	15 June 1958	Eyravallen, Örebro, Sweden	Scotland	2–1	1958 FIFA World Cup
16	26 June 1958	Ullevi, Gothenburg, Sweden	West Germany	6–3	1958 FIFA World Cup
17	1 October 1958	Parc des Princes, Paris, France	Greece	7–1	UEFA EURO 1960
18	27 March 1960	Praterstadion, Vienna, Austria	Austria	4–2	UEFA EURO 1960

Honours

Reims

Division 1: 1952–53, 1954–55, 1959–60, 1961–62
Latin Cup: 1953[7]
Division 2: 1965–66
European Cup runner-up: 1955–56

Real Madrid

La Liga: 1956–57, 1957–58
European Cup: 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59
Latin Cup: 1957[8][9]

France

FIFA World Cup third place: 1958

Individual

Ballon d'or: 1958; runner-up: 1959; third place: 1956, 1957[lower-alpha 1]
FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1958
Etoile d'Or: 1960[10]
French Player of the Year: 1960
FIFA XI: 1963[11]
World Soccer World XI: 1963[12]
World Soccer: The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time[13]
Golden Foot: 2006, as a football legend[14]
UEFA President's Award: 2010[15][16]
FIFA 100
3rd French Player of the Century

Orders

Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur: 1970[17]
Officier of the Légion d'honneur: 2007[17]

Notes

Shared with Duncan Edwards

References

"Raymond Kopa". L'Équipe (in French). Paris. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
Braun, Didier. "L'Équipe de France de football, c'est l'histoire en raccourci d'un siècle d'immigration" (PDF). L'Équipe. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 January 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2009.
Hanot, Gabriel. "Palmarès Ballon d'Or – 1958 – Raymond Kopa". www.francefootball.fr. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
Bouchez, Yann (3 March 2017). "Raymond Kopa, figure du football français, est mort". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 3 March 2017.
"Raymond Kopa". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman.
"Raymond Kopa – national football team player".
"Stade de Reims 3–0 Milan". ceroacero.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 June 2022.
"On this day, Real Madrid lifted club's second Latin Cup". RealMadrid.com. 23 June 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
"Real Madrid 1–0 Benfica". ceroacero.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 June 2022.
"France – Footballer of the Year".
"Matches of FIFA XI".
"ERIC BATTY’S WORLD XI – THE SIXTIES" Retrieved on 26 November 2015
World Soccer: The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time Retrieved on 28 November 2015
"Legends". Golden Foot. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
Gaillard, William (4 February 2011). "Goals, not coal, for Kopa". uefa.com. Archived from the original on 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
"UEFA President's Award". UEFA.com. 2 January 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
"Décret du 6 avril 2007 portant promotion et nomination" [Decree of 6 April 2007 on promotion and appointment]. Journal Officiel de la République Française (in French). 2007 (84): 6583. 8 April 2007. PREX0710142D. Retrieved 5 June 2019.

Other websites

French Football Federation profile Archived 2018-10-19 at the Wayback Machine (in French)
Raymond Kopa at National-Football-Teams.com
L'Équipe stats (in French)
FootballDatabase profile and stats
European Champions Cup/UEFA Champions League Winning Squads
Interview on uefa.com

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[10] Shared with Duncan Edwards

[Lequipe-1] "Raymond Kopa". L'Équipe (in French). Paris. Retrieved 5 June 2019.

[pol-2] Braun, Didier. "L'Équipe de France de football, c'est l'histoire en raccourci d'un siècle d'immigration" (PDF). L'Équipe. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 January 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2009.

[3] Hanot, Gabriel. "Palmarès Ballon d'Or – 1958 – Raymond Kopa". www.francefootball.fr. Retrieved 20 February 2017.

[4] Bouchez, Yann (3 March 2017). "Raymond Kopa, figure du football français, est mort". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 3 March 2017.

[5] "Raymond Kopa". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman.

[6] "Raymond Kopa – national football team player".

[7] "Stade de Reims 3–0 Milan". ceroacero.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 June 2022.

[8] "On this day, Real Madrid lifted club's second Latin Cup". RealMadrid.com. 23 June 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2022.

[9] "Real Madrid 1–0 Benfica". ceroacero.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 June 2022.

[11] "France – Footballer of the Year".

[12] "Matches of FIFA XI".

[13] "ERIC BATTY’S WORLD XI – THE SIXTIES" Retrieved on 26 November 2015

[14] World Soccer: The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time Retrieved on 28 November 2015

[15] "Legends". Golden Foot. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.

[uefa-16] Gaillard, William (4 February 2011). "Goals, not coal, for Kopa". uefa.com. Archived from the original on 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.

[UEFA_President's_Award-17] "UEFA President's Award". UEFA.com. 2 January 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2017.

[Legion-18] "Décret du 6 avril 2007 portant promotion et nomination" [Decree of 6 April 2007 on promotion and appointment]. Journal Officiel de la République Française (in French). 2007 (84): 6583. 8 April 2007. PREX0710142D. Retrieved 5 June 2019.