Étienne Mattler

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Étienne Mattler (1937)

Étienne Mattler (born December 25, 1905 in Belfort , † March 23, 1986 ) was a French football player .

The player career

In the club

Étienne Mattler, who had initially been a cyclist as a youngster , moved to the football department of the local Union Sportive Belfort after the death of his older brother in a bicycle accident , where he was already used in the reserve team as a 16-year-old. From 1927 he played for AS Strasbourg , before he joined the recently founded FC Sochaux-Montbéliard in 1929 - three years before the introduction of a uniform professional league . With the Sochaliéns , to whom he remained loyal to the end of his playing career, the left defender won an unofficial national championship title in 1931, the Coupe Sochaux . In 1935 and 1938 he was officially French champion , and in 1937 he was runner-up and cup winner only because of the poorer goal quotient . His teammates on this successful team included Roger Courtois , the Swiss “Trello” Abegglen and the Briton Bernard Williams. Mattler was also appointed to the national team for the first time in 1930 .

Mattler was a physically enormously strong, athletic and courageous defender who, due to his combative attitude and mostly fair means, bought the guts from his opponents, who were often technically superior, and who did not spare himself: in the Bleus dress , for example, he played games despite a broken jaw (1933 against Spain ) or a torn ligament of the foot (1937 against Italy ) until the final whistle.

Étienne Mattler has repeatedly demonstrated this courage off the field as well: for example, he voted at a banquet in Naples in 1938 after an international match against the eleven of fascist Italy in response to the numerous toasts and praises of the Duce the Marseillaise and officially protested against the racist slogans , to which his North African teammate Larbi Ben Barek was exposed there. For this act of moral courage, he was honored shortly afterwards by French President Albert Lebrun . And when World War II and the German occupation of France not only interrupted his football career, he joined the French resistance ; In February 1944 he was arrested, but was able to escape from the German internment camp and then again fought in the liberation of his hometown.

After the end of the war he played for his FC Sochaux in the first division for a year and ended his career at the age of 40.

Stations

  • US Belfort (1921-1927)
  • AS Strasbourg (1927-1929)
  • FC Sochaux-Montbéliard (1929-1946)

In the national team

Between May 1930 and January 1940, Étienne Mattler played 46 international matches for the Équipe Tricolore , forming together with Jules Vandooren a pair of defenders that are still among the best of their guild in France. He never scored a goal there, but he was the French team captain in 14 games and from 1938 (with his 42nd international match he exceeded Jules Dewaquez's record ) to 1955 (when Roger Marche replaced him) he was also the record national player for his country .

Mattler also took part in the first three World Cup finals ( 1930 in Uruguay , 1934 in Italy and 1938 in his own country ) and played all six games of the French ( see also Soccer World Cup 1930 / France , Soccer World Cup 1934 / France and Football World Cup 1938 / France ).

Life after time as a player

From 1946 to 1948 Mattler trained an amateur team in Lorraine and then until 1955 the US Belfort , where he had taken the first steps of his long and successful career. Then he devoted himself to his restaurant ( Bar-Tabac ) in Belfort and worked as a representative for a company in the food and beverage industry.

Étienne Mattler died at the age of 80 in the spring of 1986. The stadium in his hometown is now named after him.

Palmarès

personal data
SURNAME Mattler, Etienne
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH December 25, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Belfort
DATE OF DEATH March 23, 1986