Serge Chiesa

Serge Chiesa (born December 25, 1950 in Casablanca ) is a former French football player . The 1.62 m playmaker , who spent 14 years and thus almost his entire professional career at a single club, Olympique Lyon , was affectionately known by the fans as "Little Mozart ".

Club career

The offensive left midfielder , who was born in Morocco at the time, was still in France , grew up in Clermont-Ferrand and was a member of the football department of AS Montferrand . In 1967 he won the nationwide “Young Footballer Competition” (Concours du jeune footballeur) ; two years later, Serge Chiesa became a professional player at the first division club Olympique Lyon and in his first season there, still at the age of 18, was also a national player (see below) . He was "skinny, highly talented, an incomparable dribbler and an often brilliant playmaker who was often compared to Raymond Kopa ". He played for Lyon for the next 14 years, in the mid-1970s also in an eleven with two teammates who would both later become national coaches, namely Aimé Jacquet - who also coached the Olympique between 1976 and 1980 - and Raymond Domenech . Serge Chiesa was the source of ideas and flanks for goal scorers like Fleury Di Nallo , André Guy and Bernard Lacombe , but he was also a dangerous goal-scorer himself as an excellent free-kick taker. 1973/74 he appeared for the first time among the 15 best league hunters ; two seasons later, he had his most successful year in this regard, when he was eighth best scorer in Division 1 with 18 goals.

Up until 1983, Chiesa hardly played for the championship with Lyon - the team's performances were often too little constant. Two thirds (1974, 1975), a fifth (1972) and two sixth places (1977, 1981) in the final rankings faced several placements near the relegation zone, e.g. 1970 (15th), 1976 and 1982 (16th), 1978 ( 17.) and 1980, when Olympique remained in the league as 18th only because they had successfully overcome barrages . In the national cup competition, however, Serge Chiesa was three times with OL in the final; His team had to admit defeat twice, namely in 1971 with 1-0 against Stade Rennes and in 1976 after a 0-2 against Olympique Marseille . But in 1973 Lyon achieved a 2-1 victory over FC Nantes in the final , which meant his first - and only - title for the 22-year-old midfielder.

In the summer of 1983 Olympique Lyon had to go to the second division as the penultimate . After 475 point games and 120 goals for Lyon, Chiesa went this way, but for a new club, the US Orléans . His new team played two years in the top third of the table, but missed promotion both times. Therefore he moved back to Clermont-Ferrand in 1985; there he played with Clermont FC for three years in the third division and again in the second division in 1988/89 (among other things on the side of Andrzej Szarmach ). On the occasion of the immediate relegation, he finally ended his career in 1989, now at the age of 38.

He has never been voted France's Footballer of the Year and has never won the Étoile d'Or as the league's best player of the season. But in the summer of 2007, five journalists who have been following Olympique's career for decades put together a "team of the best players of all time at Olympique Lyon": on the left side of midfield is Serge Chiesa, who was also chosen as "best of these best" - In view of the competition from the team of the club, which at that time had just become champions for the sixth time in a row, a great personal honor.

Stations

• Association Sportive Montferrandaise (1960–1969, as a youth)
• Olympique Lyonnais (1969–1983)
• Union Sportive Orléanaise (1983–1985, in D2)
• Clermont Football Club (1985–1989, 1985–1988 in D3, 1988/89 in D2)

In the national team

His skills, discovered early on, quickly made Chiesa an A youth international; As team captain, he led the year -old eleven to the European runner-up at the 1968 European Youth Championship . A good year later, in September 1969, the 18-year-old made his debut in the French senior team . By April 1974 he had twelve international matches in this circle; he also got three hits. One of his best appearances in the blue jersey was the 1-0 victory over the USSR in World Cup qualification (October 1972), for which he was highly praised by the press. After that, however, there was a first upset when Chiesa, without canceling, did not show up for a Bleus training camp . The player had retired to Clermont-Ferrand to recover from an injury; He had informed Olympique Lyon of this, but his assumption that the club would also inform the national coach turned out to be a mistake. Coach Georges Boulogne then deleted him from the squad for the next game.
Chiesa played two games against teams from German-speaking countries in which France lost 2-1 away on both occasions: in May 1970 in the Joggeli against Switzerland and in October 1973 in the Park Stadium against the Federal Republic .

Serge Chiesa ended his career with the Bleus at the age of 23; The "family man", who was married at the age of 19 and soon became a father, did not want to sacrifice any more time for football and be permanently separated from his wife, child and friends. This end of his career came with a bang when he told the association president Fernand Sastre and national coach Ștefan Kovács shortly before a European Championship qualifier against the GDR in autumn 1974 that he was only at this team meeting on the instructions of his club superiors and his coach Aimé Mignot , but he wanted don't stay and pack his suitcase now - which he did. For this he accepted the public insult as a “ deserter ” as well as the usual punishment by the association for such a refusal at the time - also a parallel to Raymond Kopa - consisting of a 5,000- franc fine and a ban for two games existed with his club. Medial fame and appreciative pats on the back had never really been important to him.

Life after time as a player

Serge Chiesa stayed in his Auvergne homeland; For a while he received royalties for a clothing manufacturer to use his name for a sports fashion collection. He then took over a tobacco and magazine store in Riom , which he still runs today when he's not out fishing.

Palmarès

• French champion: Nothing
• French Cup Winner: 1973 (and finalist 1971, 1976)
• 12 international matches (3 goals) for France
• 475 games and 120 goals in Division 1 , all for Lyon
• 9 European Cup appearances, no hit

literature

• 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
• France Football: OL. Spécial - Clubs de legend, 2009
• L'Équipe / Gérard Ejnès: La belle histoire. L'équipe de France de football. L'Équipe, Issy-les-Moulineaux 2004 ISBN 2-9519605-3-0
• Jean-Philippe Rethacker / Jacques Thibert: La fabuleuse histoire du football. Minerva, Genève 1996, 2003 ² ISBN 978-2-8307-0661-1

Remarks

1. ^ "Le p'tit Mozart"  - France Football, p. 17
2. ↑ see the list of winners of the competition , which was held regularly from 1930 to 1979
3. ↑ Chaumier, p. 74; similar to Rethacker / Thibert, p. 439
4. ^ Sophie Guillet / François Laforge: Le guide français et international du football éd. 2007. Vecchi, Paris 2006 ISBN 2-7328-6842-6 , pp. 171-186.
5. ↑ France Football, June 12, 2007, pp. 16-23.
6. ^ Rethacker / Thibert, p. 439
7. ↑ L'Équipe / Ejnès, Belle histoire, p. 124
8. ↑ Rethacker / Thibert, p. 479f.
9. ↑ L'Équipe / Ejnès, Belle histoire, pp. 328-332.
10. ^ Alfred Wahl / Pierre Lanfranchi: Les footballeurs professionnels des années trente à nos jours. Hachette, Paris 1995 ISBN 978-2-01-235098-4 , pp. 208/209
11. ↑ Rethacker / Thibert, pp. 508 and 818
12. ↑ “Chiesa exècre la lumière aveuglante des sunlights mediatiques. Indifférent à la gloire et à la reconnaissance il fuit les honneurs et les contraintes liées à sa notoriété… “  - Quote from France Football, p. 17; Chaumier, p. 74
13. ↑ Chaumier, p. 74
14. ↑ after 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.
15. ↑ L'Équipe / Gérard Ejnès: 50 ans de Coupes d'Europe. L'Équipe, Issy-les-Moulineaux 2005 ISBN 2-9519605-9-X , p. 251

Web links

• Data sheet with photo on the website of the French Association
• Curriculum vitae on the website of Olympique Lyon (French)