Maurice Lafont

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Maurice Lafont (born September 13, 1927 in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges , Val-de-Marne , † April 8, 2005 ) was a French football player and coach .

In the club

The middle runner , whose parents had moved to southern France during the German occupation, played as a youth and as a young adult at CS Cheminots, a railway sports club in Nîmes . In 1950 he moved to local rivals Olympique Nîmes , for whom he completed his first game in Division 1 in April 1950 . A year later he was loaned to the second division club FC Grenoble , but was brought back to Languedoc in 1952 , where he quickly established himself as a regular player and made a significant contribution to Olympique becoming one of the strongest French teams of the 1950s. But it wasn't enough for a championship title or a cup victory : Maurice Lafont and his team were runner-up in 1958 and 1959, and in 1958 Olympique Nîmes lost the final against Doublé winner Stade Reims 3-1. The defender was awarded the Étoile d'Or in 1957/58.

After a total of 230 first division games, in which he had also managed eight goals, he moved to league rivals SC Toulon in 1959 , where he booked 14 more point games with two goalscoring at the side of his short-term national team colleague Jean-Jacques Marcel , but did not prevent the club's relegation could. After Toulon failed the immediate promotion, Lafont returned to Division 1 in 1961 ; however, he was no longer used in the league eleven at Stade Olympique Montpelliérain and therefore ended his playing career as a 34-year-old.

Stations

  • CS Cheminots Nîmois (until early 1950)
  • Olympique Nîmes (1950/51)
  • FC de Grenoble (1951/52)
  • Olympique Nîmes (1952–1959)
  • SC Toulon (1959-1961)
  • Stade Olympique Montpelliérain (1961/62)

National player

Maurice Lafont made only four appearances in the French national team between June and October 1958 , because his playing position was permanently occupied by Reims Robert Jonquet during the 1950s . He was part of the French squad at the World Cup in Sweden and made his debut there due to the serious injury Jonquets suffered in the semifinals in the final 6: 3 against Germany , which secured France third place. Four months later, his career with the Bleus ended , and again the opponent was Germany (2-2 in Colombes ).

After the playing career

After the end of his active career, Maurice Lafont trained among others LB Châteauroux and AS Cherbourg before returning to Nîmes; There he ran a café and, during the summer months, a beach bar in Le Grau-du-Roi .

literature

  • Hubert Beaudet: La Coupe de France. Ses vainqueurs, ses surprises. Alan Sutton, Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire 2003 ISBN 2-84253-958-3
  • Hubert Beaudet: Le Championnat et ses champions. 70 ans de Football en France. Alan Sutton, Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire 2002 ISBN 2-84253-762-9
  • Denis Chaumier: Les Bleus. Tous les joueurs de l'équipe de France de 1904 à nos jours. Larousse, o. O. 2004 ISBN 2-03-505420-6
  • L'Équipe / Gérard Ejnès: Coupe de France. La folle épopée. L'Équipe, Issy-les-Moulineaux 2007 ISBN 2-915-53562-0

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ First division numbers according to Stéphane Boisson / Raoul Vian: Il était une fois le Championnat de France de Football. Tous les joueurs de la première division de 1948/49 à 2003/04. Neofoot, Saint-Thibault o. J.
  2. ↑ Chaumier, p. 181
personal data
SURNAME Lafont, Maurice
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French soccer player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH September 13, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Villeneuve-Saint-Georges , Val-de-Marne department , France
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 2005