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Just Fontaine
Just Fontaine en 1958.jpg
Fontaine with France at the 1958 World Cup
Personal information
Date of birth (1933-08-18)18 August 1933
Place of birth Marrakech, French Morocco
Date of death 1 March 2023(2023-03-01) (aged 89)
Place of death Toulouse, France
Height 1.74 m
Playing position Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1950–1953 USM Casablanca 48 (62)
1953–1956 Nice 69 (42)
1956–1962 Reims 131 (122)
Total 248 (226)
National team
1953–1960 France 21 (30)
Teams managed
1967 France
1968–1969 Luchon
1973–1976 Paris Saint-Germain
1978–1979 Toulouse
1979–1981 Morocco
Honours
Representing  France
FIFA World Cup
Third 1958 Sweden
  • Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).
Fontaine1958
Fontaine playing for France at the 1958 FIFA World Cup.

Just Louis Fontaine ( 18 August 1933 – 1 March 2023) was a French professional footballer. A forward, he scored the most goals in a single edition of the FIFA World Cup, with thirteen in six matches in 1958. In March 2004, Pelé named him one of the 125 Greatest Living Footballers at a FIFA Awards Ceremony.

Football career

Born in Marrakech, French Morocco, to a French father and a Spanish mother, Fontaine moved to Casablanca, where he attended the Lycée Lyautey.

Fontaine began his amateur career at USM Casablanca, where he played from 1950 to 1953. Nice recruited him in 1953, and he went on to score 44 goals in three seasons for the club. In 1956, he moved to Stade de Reims, where he teamed up with Raymond Kopa from the 1959–60 season. Fontaine scored 121 goals in six seasons at Stade de Reims. In total, Fontaine scored 165 goals in 200 matches in the Ligue 1, and won the championship twice, one time in 1958, and the other in 1960. He also took part in the team that got to the 1958–59 European Cup final against Real Madrid, being that season's top scorer with ten goals.

Wearing the blue shirt of France, Fontaine has an even more impressive record. On his debut on 17 December 1953, Fontaine scored a hat trick as France defeated Luxembourg 8–0. In seven years, he scored 30 goals in 21 matches. However, he will best be remembered for his 1958 FIFA World Cup performance, where he scored 13 goals in just six matches – a feat that included putting four past defending champions West Germany. It was also the highest number of goals ever scored by one player at a single World Cup tournament – a record that still stands as of 2022. This tally secured him the Golden Boot. As of 2022, he is tied with Lionel Messi as the fourth-top scorer in FIFA World Cup history, with each of the three ahead of him - Gerd Müller (14 goals), Ronaldo (15 goals) and Miroslav Klose (16 goals) - having played in at least two tournaments.

Fontaine played his last match in July 1962, being forced to retire early (28 years and 11 months old) because of a recurring injury. He briefly managed the France national team in 1967, but was replaced after only two friendly games, which ended in defeats. As coach of Morocco, he led the Atlas Lions to 3rd in the 1980 African Cup of Nations, overseeing the emergence of such players as Badou Zaki, Mohammed Timoumi and Aziz Bouderbala. Morocco reached the final stage of 1982 World Cup qualifying but were beaten by Cameroon. As sporting director of Paris Saint-Germain F.C., he managed to take the club to help promote the club to the first division.

After retirement

Fontaine was named by Pelé as one of the 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004. He was chosen as the best French player of the last 50 years by the French Football Federation in the UEFA Jubilee Awards in November 2003. With Eugène N'Jo Léa he founded the National Union of Professional Football Players in 1961. He criticized the performance of the French team in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, particularly on the lackluster play of the forwards. Fontaine died in Toulouse, where he had lived for 60 years, on 1 March 2023 at the age of 89.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
USM Casablanca 1950–51 Moroccan Football League 16 23 16 23
1951–52 Moroccan Football League 10 17 10 17
1952–53 Moroccan Football League 22 22 22 22
Total 48 62 48 62
Nice 1953–54 French Division 1 24 17 7 3 31 20
1954–55 French Division 1 28 20 4 2 32 22
1955–56 French Division 1 17 5 3 4 1 0 21 9
Total 69 42 14 9 1 0 84 51
Reims 1956–57 French Division 1 31 30 1 1 32 31
1957–58 French Division 1 26 34 6 5 32 39
1958–59 French Division 1 32 24 2 2 7 10 1 0 42 36
1959–60 French Division 1 28 28 2 2 30 30
1960–61 French Division 1 7 4 0 0 1 0 8 4
1961–62 French Division 1 7 2 1 3 8 5
Total 131 122 12 13 8 10 1 0 152 145
Career total 248 226 26 22 8 10 2 0 284 258

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
France 1953 1 3
1954 0 0
1955 0 0
1956 1 0
1957 1 0
1958 12 18
1959 4 7
1960 2 2
Total 21 30
Scores and results list France's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Fontaine goal
List of international goals scored by Just Fontaine
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 17 December 1953 Parc des Princes, Paris, France 1  Luxembourg 4–0 8–0 1954 FIFA World Cup qualification
2 6–0
3 7–0
4 13 March 1958 Parc des Princes, Paris, France 4  Spain 1–1 2–2 Friendly
5 8 June 1958 Idrottsparken, Norrköping, Sweden 6  Paraguay 1–1 7–3 1958 FIFA World Cup
6 2–1
7 5–3
8 11 June 1958 Arosvallen, Västerås, Sweden 7  Yugoslavia 1–0 2–3 1958 FIFA World Cup
9 2–2
10 15 June 1958 Eyravallen, Örebro, Sweden 8  Scotland 2–0 2–1 1958 FIFA World Cup
11 19 June 1958 Idrottsparken, Norrköping, Sweden 9  Northern Ireland 2–0 4–0 1958 FIFA World Cup
12 3–0
13 24 June 1958 Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden 10  Brazil 1–1 2–5 1958 FIFA World Cup
14 28 June 1958 Ullevi, Gothenburg, Sweden 11  West Germany 1–0 6–3 1958 FIFA World Cup
15 3–1
16 5–2
17 6–3
18 1 October 1958 Parc des Princes, Paris, France 12  Greece 2–0 7–1 UEFA Euro 1960 qualifiers
19 6–1
20 5 October 1958 Praterstadion, Vienna, Austria 13  Austria 2–1 2–1 Friendly
21 9 November 1958 Stade Olympique de Colombes, Colombes, France 15  Italy 2–2 2–2 Friendly
22 11 November 1959 Stade Olympique de Colombes, Colombes, France 17  Portugal 1–0 5–3 Friendly
23 4–2
24 5–2
25 13 December 1959 Stade Olympique de Colombes, Colombes, France 18  Austria 1–0 5–2 UEFA Euro 1960 qualifiers
26 2–0
27 4–2
28 17 December 1959 Parc des Princes, Paris, France 19  Spain 2–1 4–3 Friendly
29 16 March 1960 Parc des Princes, Paris, France 20  Chile 4–0 6–0 Friendly
30 5–0

Honours

Nice

Reims

France

Individual

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Just Fontaine para niños

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