André Petitfils

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André Petitfils (born February 10, 1920 in Orléans / Loiret department , † October 3, 2001 ) was a French football player .

The club career

The war years

As a 19-year-old, André Petitfils moved from second division Olympique FC Charleville to league competitor Stade de Reims shortly before the outbreak of World War II . Apart from his date of birth, nothing can be learned about the years up to 1938. His first season there was overshadowed by the German invasion of France, which no longer allowed a national championship to be held. It is safe to assume that the young man was drafted into the army. With the occupation by German troops and the division of the country , gaming was resumed, albeit in two regionally composed groups, with increasing restrictions on professionalism and, in view of the war situation, far removed from normality. In the 1941/42 season, the half-forward was part of the Reimser regular formation, which surprisingly became Division 1 (North Zone) champions under their player- coach Jules Vandooren - a title that is not counted as an official national championship title in France. In 1944 he also reached the final of the national cup for the first time , formed the internal storm of the Équipe Fédérale Reims-Champagne together with Albert Batteux and Pierre Flamion (this season only regional teams competed in the championship and cup), which, however, played against the ÉF Nancy- Lorraine ultimately had no chance.

Successful years from 1945

After the liberation of France, Stade de Reims was accepted into the top professional division because of his good performance during the war, justified this with a first runner-up title in 1947, and André Petitfils was also a regular at this level for the next six years. The fact that he was versatile contributed to this: he played right and left, in attack and in midfield , depending on the requirements of his coach Henri Roessler . He also scored a number of goals - and when the red and whites from Champagne won their first official championship title in 1949 , he had contributed 10 goals and, as an outside runner, was the third best goalscorer of his team. The following year, Reims won their first cup, and it was again Petitfils who secured this success with a 2-0 goal in the final against Racing Paris .

In the 1950/51 season, his long-time teammate Albert Batteux, who had also coached Stade at the beginning of the season, used him in 30 of the 34 point games; he also scored 6 goals. But for the following season the club had signed Raymond Cicci, a young outside runner, and two talented strikers, Raymond Kopa and René Bliard , so that the now 31-year-old's chances of remaining a regular player declined. He then moved to FC Metz in 1951 , for whom he scored 4 league goals the following year and who achieved a good 5th place in Division 1 - incidentally, tied with the club to which Petitfils had belonged for the previous 12 years, at its international one Ascent, however, he could no longer participate.

How long or with which clubs André Petitfils played from 1952 and what became of him after the end of his career cannot yet be determined.

Stations

  • Olympique FC Charleville (until 1939)
  • Stade de Reims (1939-1951)
  • FC Metz (1951–?)

Palmarès

  • French champion : 1949 (and "Warmaster" of the Northern group in 1942)
  • French cup winner : 1950 (and finalist 1944)
  • Around 180 appearances and 35 goals in Division 1 , of which 167/31 for Reims (only matches from 1945 considered)

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 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Player profile on footballdatabase.eu. Retrieved May 14, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Petitfils, André
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH February 10, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Orleans
DATE OF DEATH October 3, 2001