Michel Cougé

Michel Cougé
Personnel
birthday	June 11, 1954
place of birth	Gorron ,  France
size	187 cm
position	midfield
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1972-1980	Stade Laval	148 (8)
1975-1976	→  Stade Rennes  (loan)	13 (5)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1976	France Olympia	1 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Michel Cougé (born June 11, 1954 in Gorron ) is a former French football player .

Career

The trained farmer Cougé grew up near Laval and was accepted into the squad of the second division Stade Laval in 1972 at the age of 18 . Although he made his second division debut in his first season, he did not get beyond this. In the following seasons, however, he was used more regularly. France Football magazine described him in March 1975 as a player with great potential who still had to work on his style of play. In the summer of the same year he was awarded to the league competitor Stade Rennes , with whom he played for promotion. At the end of the 1975/76 season he made the leap into the first division as a second division champion with Rennes, which Laval also succeeded.

After promotion, the then 22-year-old player was considered for the Olympic Games in the summer of 1976 , where he was part of a selection with players like Michel Platini . In the course of the tournament he was only used in the quarter-finals, which meant elimination due to a 4-0 defeat against the later tournament winners from the GDR. Since the footballer came on in the 66th minute, his international experience was limited to around 25 minutes.

Following the Olympic Games, Cougé returned to Laval and made his debut in the French top division a little later in a 3-1 defeat against SC Bastia . The player and his team were able to keep the class in the following seasons and from 1977 also secured a regular place in the team. However, the steady upward trend came to an end when Cougé suffered a serious knee injury in 1980. It prompted him to announce the end of his career at the end of the 1979/80 season at the age of 26 after 107 first division games and four goals and 54 second division games and nine goals.

After the end of his active career, he built a stud in his hometown of Gorron, but continued to devote himself to football as an advisor to his ex-club Laval. He also made several trips to Africa. During one of his trips, he was arrested in Senegal and had to stand trial in Dakar . He has been accused of pedophilia, rape of a child, the use of force and other offenses. The guilty verdict in August 2010, however, only referred to pedophilia. Because of this, the judges waived the maximum possible sentence in the form of ten years in prison and sentenced Cougé to three years in prison. According to the former professional's representation, however, the alleged victim was of legal age.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michel Cougé in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
2. ↑ Michel Cougé ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , afterfooot.fr 
3. ↑ Football: Michel Couge , footballdatabase.eu
4. ↑ Un ancien joueur du Stade lavallois condamné pour pédophilie au Sénégal , ouest-france.fr