Jacques Fatton

Abe Lenstra and Jacques Fatton

Jacques "Jacky" Fatton (born December 19, 1925 in Exincourt , France ; † July 26, 2011 in Geneva ) was a Swiss football player who made 53 appearances with 29 goals in the Swiss national football team from 1946 to 1955 .

Club career (1943–1963)

The son of French parents began playing club football at the age of 12 in the youth department of Servette Genève . Geneva , the center of western Switzerland, located at the outflow of the Rhone from Lake Geneva, remained his footballing home with one interruption until the end of his career. With the “Garnet Reds” he celebrated winning four championships in the Stade des Charmilles in 1946, 1950, 1961 and 1962. On April 18, 1949, he helped Servette to a 3-0 win against Grasshopper Club Zurich in the cup competition with two goals . He was the top scorer of the National League A three times in the rounds of 1948/49 (21 goals), 1949/50 (32 goals) and 1961/62 (25 goals) . His hit rate in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil: 32 goals in 31 games. As a 36-year-old, he scored 25 goals in 17 games in his fourth championship win in 1961/62. He was a very dangerous winger . The left wing, only 1.66 m tall, had a hard and precise shot. Quickly he got himself into promising shooting positions and thanks to his good athletic condition he was able to score decisive goals in the last minutes of the game. After the 1954 World Cup , Fatton moved to Olympique Lyon for three years . Fatton contributed 33 goals in 83 games for the club from the Rhône department . Better than an 8th place in Division 1 did not jump out in view of the competitors Stade de Reims , OGC Nice and AS Saint-Étienne . Overall, "Jacky" Fatton scored 307 goals in 440 first division games from 1943 to 1963.

National team (1946–1955)

At the age of 20, the left wing of Servette Geneva was appointed to the Swiss national football team. On May 11, 1946 he made his debut in London in the 1: 4 defeat against England in the "Nati". With the 53rd international match on June 19, 1955 in Geneva against Spain - as a professional at Olympique Lyon - he said goodbye to the national team. He had previously participated in the 1950 and 1954 World Cup. In Brazil, he scored both goals in a 2-2 draw on June 28, 1950 in Sao Paulo against the clearly favored hosts , thus drawing the attention of the international football world to himself. Through his further appearances against Yugoslavia and Mexico , he also confirmed internationally his 32 goals in the 1949/50 round in the National League in Switzerland. At the 1954 World Cup in front of his own audience, he played all four Confederate games. He was also in action in the legendary " Heat Battle " on June 26th at Lausanne's Stade de la Pontaise in the quarter-final against Austria . After a 3-0 lead after 19 minutes, coach Karl Rappan's team lost the match with 5: 7 goals. Karl Rappan described Jacques Fatton as the “best left winger” there has ever been in the Swiss national team.

farewell

At the age of 38, he ended his career after the 1962/63 season. He died on July 26, 2011 at the age of 85.

Web links

• FIFA.com: Hero of Sao Paulo Fatton is dead
• Switzerland mourns the loss of football legend Jacky Fatton , featured in the Sport aktuell programon July 26, 2011

swell

• 211 World's Top Premier League Scorers of the Century, IFFHS, 1998
• Hardy Greens : Football World Cup Encyclopedia. 1930-2006. AGON Sportverlag, Kassel 2002, ISBN 3-89784-205-X .
• The great European football book, Volume 2, international matches and cup finals, Sportverlag Uwe Nuttelmann, Jade, 1999, ISBN 3-930814-02-1