Louis Floch

Louis Floch
Personnel
birthday	December 28, 1947
place of birth	Saint-Pol-de-Léon ,  France
size	175 cm
position	Right winger
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1965-1969	Rennes stadium	93 (19)
1969-1972	AS Monaco	85 (20)
1972-1974	Paris FC	59 (30)
1974-1976	Paris Saint-Germain	39 0(8)
1976-1980	Stade Brest	120 (18)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1967-1971	France B	2 0(0)
1970-1973	France	16 0(2)
1 Only league games are given.

Louis Floch (born December 28, 1947 in Saint-Pol-de-Léon ) is a former French football player .

As a player in the club

Beginnings at Rennes and Monaco (1965–1972)

The home on the right wing position Floch was 16 years old when he moved up in his hometown of Saint-Pol-de-Léon at the amateur club Stade léonard competing in the Division d'Honneur in the first team. He quickly revealed his extraordinary talent under coach Jean Combot , who had previously been a professional himself, so that in the summer of 1965 he was signed by the first division club Stade Rennes , located in his home region of Brittany . On August 22, 1965 he was in a 1: 3 defeat against the UA Sedan-Torcy on the field and made his debut in the French top division at the age of 17. He quickly secured the trust of his coach Jean Prouff , became a regular player and even played his first game in European competition on September 22, 1965 when he was called up in a 2-0 draw against Dukla Prague in the European Cup. However, it was the only European game he was ever allowed to play. Shortly thereafter, on October 3 of the same year, he scored his first first division goal in a 3: 5 bankruptcy against SCO Angers . He was considered the greatest talent in Breton football until he suffered a serious foot injury on March 16, 1966 as part of a game of the French youth team against Belgium. This put him out of action for almost a year, which is why there was already speculation about the premature end of his career. At the beginning of 1967, however, he managed to return, was able to recover quickly and was again a service provider within a team that had to fight against relegation. In the national cup against FC Sochaux, a possible final was only missed in the replay.

In 1967 Robert Rico became a regular on the left. Both developed a game method in which they overflowed the defense on the outside and then played in the back of the opposing defense to a teammate; Floch benefited from his speed. To the surprise of his own supporters, he announced the move to the second division club AS Monaco in May 1969 , although he would have continued to have a perspective as a regular player in the first division team. The club approved his departure for financial reasons.

At the club from Monaco, which despite being part of the Principality of Monaco, is allowed to take part in French games, he was given a regular place as before in Rennes and initially had to be satisfied with a placement in the middle of the table. At the same time, the fans of his former employer vehemently demanded his return, which never came about. In the 1970/71 season he not only played strong enough to be accepted as a second division player in the national team, but also led his team to promotion to the top French league. He kept his high level of performance and contributed with ten goals in 1971/72 his best scoring result to date, but this was not enough to keep the Monegas away. Because of this, he left the principality in 1972 and signed with Paris FC, which had been promoted to the first division .

Paris years (1972-1976)

At the same time as he came in 1972 a number of notable new signings at the PFC in the French capital. Accordingly, the team had enough quality to stay well ahead of the relegation zone as twelfth in the table. Floch underscored his scoring qualities, which he had already shown in the previous season, scoring the most in his entire career with 16 goals, making it tenth in the list of top scorers. Although he was able to maintain the level with 14 goals in 1973/74 and his colleague François Félix was even successful 18 times, the Parisians were relegated due to the second weakest defensive department in the league. With a total of 30 goals in the club's jersey, Floch is the best goalscorer in the history of the Paris FC first division. In addition, he was able to acquire the status of a public favorite with the supporters of the club.

Despite relegation in 1974, he remained in the top division, as he went to the city rivals Paris Saint-Germain , who had previously been promoted to the top division for the first time . A number of prominent players kept the club in the top class, but Floch was not without controversy, as he competed with Guy Nosibor and had to give this often the first. With Pierre-Antoine Dossevi , another potential rival was added in 1975, so that he then only took part in around half of all games. In 1976 he turned his back on the capital and moved back to his homeland in Breton, where he found work for the second division club Stade Brest .

Last years at Brest (1976–1980)

At Brest in 1976, aged 28, he was one of several new acquisitions that stood for experience. With Alain de Martigny , a player was brought in that same summer who was supposed to act as coach in a dual role. De Martigny, who was only a year and a half older and who had already known Floch well and had campaigned for his commitment, made him a regular on the right wing. The first two seasons he spent with the team in the middle of the table; this changed in 1978 with the engagement of striker Patrick Martet . The result was an extremely successful offensive duo with Martet, who lives in the middle, who was able to utilize Floch's flanks. Martet scored 26 times, Floch seven times and at the end of the 1978/79 season Brest made it to the top division. Floch was on the field when Brest experienced its first first division premiere on August 3, 1979 with a 1: 2 against FC Sochaux . Although he was able to maintain his regular place in the following time, the team won only three times up to the penultimate matchday and finished last. When she had to say goodbye to the also relegated opponent Olympique Marseille on May 27, 1980 , the weakest offensive of this season was a 7-2 win, to which Floch contributed a goal. This was also the last game under professional conditions for him, as he decided to end his career because of differences of opinion with those responsible. By then, the then 32-year-old had made 255 first division games with 70 goals and 141 second division games with 25 goals.

National team

At the beginning of his career he was a member of his country's junior team. In October 1967 he wore the jersey of France's B team for the first time in a 1-1 draw against Belgium's second team. For the team he ran again in 1971.

He was 22 years old when he made his debut for the French national team on October 7, 1970 in a 1-0 loss to Austria , coming on as a substitute in the 78th minute. Four days later he played his first competitive game at international level in a 3-1 win against Norway as part of qualifying for the 1972 European Championship . This was followed regularly by further considerations and by the summer of 1971 he was a total of six times for France, while he only played second class at club level with AS Monaco; thus he was one of the few players who made the leap into the national team despite being second class. Even after the rise achieved in 1971, he remained in the selection and received the trust of coach Georges Boulogne , who had already coached him in the youth national team. However, the team did not achieve sporting success, both the 1972 European Championship and the 1974 World Championship were missed and therefore a new coach was brought in in the summer of 1973 with mittefan Kovács . Floch did not play an international match under Kovács. For this reason, a 2-0 defeat against the Soviet Union on May 26, 1973 was the last of 16 games in which he played in his country's shirt.

Play style and role

Since the beginning of his career, he stood out for his fast game, through which he developed a great penetrating power on the wing. In addition, there were extraordinary skills in dribbling and the ability to go it alone. With increasing age, he also appeared as a leader on the pitch and tried very hard to serve as a role model for the young players and to help them develop further. Among other things, he worked at the end of his career as a mentor for the future national player Yvon Le Roux .

Life after the active time

While he was still tying his football boots for Brest, he opened a tobacco and press shop in Roscoff in 1977 . From 1981 he appeared as a player-coach for several lower-class clubs from Brittany. In 1987 he gave up playing for good and returned to his hometown of Saint-Pol-de-Léon, where he was a youth coach and then took over the presidency of the local club where his career began. In 2007 he became the coach's advisor at a club from Morlaix .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Louis Floch  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , afterfoot.fr  
2. ↑ Louis Floch - Fiche et statistiques , stade-rennais-online.com
3. ^ Louis Floch - Fiche de stats du joueur de football , pari-et-gagne.com
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Les déboulés de “Loulou” Floch , stade-rennais-online.com
5. ↑ ^{a b} Loulou Floch , roscoff-quotidien.eu
6. ↑ Belgique B 1 - 1 France B , selectiona.free.fr
7. ↑ Luxembourg 1 - 0 France B , selectiona.free.fr
8. ↑ Louis Floch , ff