Squad Firoud

The mostly short Kader Firoud called Abdelkader Firoud (born October 11, 1919 in Oran , † April 3, 2005 in Nîmes ) was a French football player and coach .

The soccerplayer

Club career

Kader Firoud grew up in Algeria, which was then part of France ; his first football stations were US Musulmane , then Mouloudia Algiers , where he earned a reputation as a goal-scoring striker . This was not long hidden from French clubs, especially since teams from Algeria took part in the French cup competition. During the Second World War , Firoud moved to Toulouse FC , for whom he competed in the war championships from 1942 to 1945, was champion of the southern season in 1943 and was in the cup final in 1945 . After the war he moved to AS Saint-Étienne , for which he was increasingly imMidfield spun the threads. In his three years with the Stéphanois he was runner-up (1946) and fourth in Division 1 before he left . In 1948 he moved to Nîmes Olympique , with whom he rose to the top French league two years later, where he consecutively finished 5, 6, 5 and 9. During this time, Kader Firoud was appointed to the French national football team for the first time due to his consistent performance . In 1954 he had to end his career as a player after a serious traffic accident.

The national player

Between October 1951 and May 1952 Kader Firoud played six times for the Équipe Tricolore ; He played his first international match a few days before his 32nd birthday. After a break at international level, he had just been nominated again for the French national squad at the 1954 World Cup when a car accident ended his playing career from one day to the other.

The trainer

The more significant part of his work in football on the other side of the Rhine began in 1955, when Firoud took over as coach for the team he had previously played for six years: he was there until 1964 and again between 1969 and 1978, for a total of 18 years Nîmes Olympique in the dugout. Between 1964 and 1969 he coached Toulouse FC (also a club in whose league eleven he himself played) for three years and worked as a consultant for the Algerian Football Association for two years .

In particular, Nîmes led the coach to the absolute top of France: 1957–1963 and 1970–1975, the club from the small southern French town was consistently single-digit, was runner-up four times and failed twice ( 1958 against Stade de Reims and 1961 against UA Sedan Torcy ) only in the final of the cup . In 1971 Firoud was named Coach of the Year .

From 1980 to 1982 he was still directing at Montpellier HSC , rose with this club straight away in Division 1 , but could not prevent his immediate relegation in his very last season (the only time in his long active time). After his last consultancy (1983/84 for the French football association FFF ), Firoud retired - of course in the immediate vicinity of Nîmes , where he died in 2005.

Overall, Kader Firoud has acted in 782 first division games on the sidelines; that seemed to be a French record "for the ages" - until it was surpassed in 2002 by Guy Roux , albeit the only one to date.

Palmarès

As a player

• French football champion : runner-up in 1946 (with Saint-Étienne)
• French Cup Winner : Finalist 1945 (with Toulouse)
• 6 international appearances for France

As a trainer

• French football champion : runner-up in 1958, 1959, 1960 and 1972 (with Nîmes)
• French cup winner : finalist 1958 and 1961 (with Nîmes)
• 782 games as a first division coach
• French Coach of the Year: 1971