André Jacowski

André Jacowski (* December 5, 1922 in Wiatowice / Poland as Andrzej Żakowski; † April 20, 2002 in Reims ) was a French football player .

The club career

Born in Poland near Krakow , the full-back came to Stade de Reims in 1945, shortly after the liberation of France. In the first post-war season (1945/46) the French football association FFF, because of his good performance during the "war championships", moved to Division 1 of France highest professional league, was included. Little is known about Jacowski's career up to then; He had spent some time at the amateur club Arago Sport Orléanais , which comes from the Catholic sports movement (FGSPF) and - like other clubs with church roots - a culturally familiar sporting home for many Polish immigrants and war refugees (including those of the second or third generation) bot.

In Reims , player-coach Henri Roessler used the newcomer in the first two years whenever the "old warriors" Daniel Prince and Pradel showed small weaknesses; André Jacowski played a third of the league games. From the 1947/48 season he was then a regular player on the right side of defense and stayed that way for the next five years.

Most of the Stade team already had the face that made them the top French and then European top team from 1949, and Jacowski played a key role in this. In front of goalkeeper Paul Sinibaldi (from 1948) there was a safe defense with center runner Jonquet and the defender pair Jacowski / Marche ; the outside runners Penverne (from 1948) and Petitfils in Reims' preferred World Cup system were more offensively oriented, and the storm was occupied by the five-man row Batteux (from 1950 coach of the team) - Bini - Pierre Sinibaldi - Prouff - Flamion . Bini, Sinibaldi and Flamion alone made 99 league goals in the two seasons 1947/48 and 1948/49. Seven mainly forward-oriented players ensured enormous penetration, but often also led to a number of goals; 1-0 was therefore not a typical result for the red-whites from Champagne .

In the summer of 1949, André Jacowski won the first championship title with the club, and a year later came the first cup victory . Two fourth places in the table followed by 1952 and the defender was present in practically all the matches. In addition, he, who had meanwhile become a citizen of his new homeland, was twice appointed to the French national football team. The 1952/53 season brought a new high point for the club, which won its second championship title and the Coupe Latine for the first time - for Jacowski, however, this year was a single disappointment: he wore the jersey of his team in only two league games and found himself in the games against Valencia and Milan for the predecessor of the European Cup are not taken into account. This was due to a protracted injury that gave young Simon Zimny an unexpected chance, which he used to the satisfaction of coach Batteux. The club then did not stand in the way of the long-time number 2's request for approval for another club.

So Jacowski moved to RC Paris in 1953 , who had just been relegated to the second division and also missed immediate resurgence with the ex- Rémois . He then played for an amateur club from Fougères , later returned to Reims and died there at the age of 79.

Stations

• Arago Sport Orléanais (before / until 1945)
• Stade de Reims (1945–1953)
• Racing Club de Paris (1953/54)
• Fougères

The national player

In April and May 1952 André Jacowski played two international matches for the Équipe Tricolore . But although France won both games and the right-back from Reims showed a respectable performance, the subsequent injury prevented a continuation of his path to success in this circle.

Palmarès

• French champion : 1949, 1953
• French cup winner : 1950
• 190 D1 appearances , 2 goals
• 2 international caps

literature

• Jean Cornu: Les grandes equipes françaises de football. Famot, Genève 1978
• Pascal Grégoire-Boutreau / Tony Verbicaro: Stade de Reims - une histoire sans fin. Cahiers intempestifs, Saint-Étienne 2001 ISBN 2-911698-21-5
• Michel Hubert / Jacques Pernet: Stade de Reims. Sa legend. Atelier Graphique, Reims 1992 ISBN 2-9506272-2-6
• L'Équipe (ed.): Stade de Reims. Un club à la Une. L'Équipe, Issy-les-Moulineaux 2006 ISBN 2-915535-41-8
• Lucien Perpère / Victor Sinet / Louis Tanguy: Reims de nos amours. 1931/1981 - 50 ans de Stade de Reims. Alphabet Cube, Reims 1981
• Jacques and Thomas Poncelet: Supporters du Stade de Reims 1935-2005. Self-published, Reims 2005 ISBN 2-9525704-0-X