Raymond Kopa
French great nicknamed the ‘Napoleon of football’ who was known for his tenacious dribbling
RAYMOND KOPA, who has died aged 85, was aside from Michel Platini the finest footballer to have played for France.
A deep-lying maker of goals, Kopa enjoyed his best years in the late 1950s with Real Madrid, when the Spanish club dominated European competition. Kopa first came to their attention in 1955, when he masterminded France’s 2-1 victory over Spain in a match held at Real’s Chamartin (now Bernabéu) stadium; his performance (and 5 ft 6 in stature) led the Daily Express to dub him “the Napoleon of football”, a nickname then adopted by French fans.
The following year he was bought from his club, Stade de Reims, by the Spaniards for 56 million francs – a record for a French player – only a few weeks before the two sides were due to meet in the first final of the European Cup.
Despite an injured ankle and worries about how he would be received by the fans, Kopa turned out for Reims in the match and within 10 minutes had helped them to a twogoal lead. He then missed a chance to make it three and, spurred on by the Argentine maestro Alfredo Di Stéfano, Real eventually won 4-3.
It was the first of Real’s five consecutive victories in the Cup, the next three of which would flow from the talents of Kopa. At first, however, he found the going hard in Madrid, as Di Stéfano was the playmaker and Kopa was asked to move from the centre to outside right.
Once there, he experienced several months of frustration in which he rarely saw the ball, as the team was used to feeding the ball down the left channel to the flying winger Francisco Gento – “El Supersonico”.
Yet in time Kopa developed an understanding with the other players, notably after his idol, Ferenc Puskas, returned to the club. As well as the European Cups of 1957, 1958 and 1959 (in which they again beat Reims), the side won the Spanish title in 1957 and 1958 and in 1958 Kopa was voted European Footballer of the Year. He was the only Frenchman to win the accolade before Platini in the early 1980s; it has since gone as well to JeanPierre Papin and Zinedine Zidane.
The award presaged Kopa’s greatest hour as an international player, when later that same year he guided an unfancied French team to third place in the World Cup Finals, staged in Sweden. Much of the side’s success was due to the striker Just Fontaine’s record tally for the competition of 13 goals, many of which were fashioned for him by Kopa.
The French might have gone further still but for an injury to Robert Jonquet, the hub of their defence, early in the semi-final against Brazil. In the era before substitutes, 10-man France eventually lost 5-2, the 17-yearold Pelé having scored a hat-trick. Nevertheless, Kopa was voted player of the tournament.
The grandson of Polish immigrants, Raymond Kopaszewski was born at Noeux-les-Mines, in the Pas de Calais, on October 13 1931. Once he reached school age, his surname was shortened by classmates for ease of pronunciation. All his family worked in the mines, and at 14 he followed his father down the pit, where he worked for three years, once damaging a hand in an accident. Football offered a way out, and from the age of 10 Raymond had been on the books of the local club, US Noeux-les-Mines (later Gérard Houllier’s first club as manager).
In 1949, Kopa was spotted in a competition for young players by Angers, a Second Division club. After two years with them, his skills, especially his ability to dribble and beat players, brought him to the attention of Reims, then the leading team in the French game.
Under the coach Albert Batteux, the side from Champagne country played an attractive, attacking style in which Kopa came to revel. At first, however, he was criticised by the press for dribbling so often. Worried by these rebukes, he went to see Batteux, who told him: “If you stop dribbling, I will drop you from the team.”
Batteux understood that Kopa was not an egoist but a team player; if he embarked on a run past several players, it was to help make a chance for a fellow player. Kopa repaid Batteux’s faith in him by leading the side to the French title in 1953 and 1955, scoring 48 goals in 158 games, and setting up many more. Then in 1959, after three years in Madrid, he decided to return to northern France, even though Real offered to double his salary. He was motivated principally by fear of not being picked for his country if he continued to play abroad.
Once back at Reims, he formed a formidable partnership with Fontaine (whom the club had bought to replace Kopa when he was sold to Real), and the pair’s goals brought two more French championships to the team, in 1960 and 1962.
By that stage, Kopa should have been at the peak of his form, but his strength was sapped by arguments with officials over freedom of contract and players’ rights, as well as by injuries. Both he and Fontaine missed the 1960 European Championships, held in France. His mind was also diverted by the cancer from which his infant son was suffering; Denis died in 1963, aged four, after spending two years in hospital.
Kopa continued to play for Reims until 1967, helping them back into the First Division that season after they had spent two years in the Second. He then retired from the game and concentrated on running his sports clothing business.
He won 45 caps for France between 1952 and 1962, a total that would have been higher had Real not refused to release him for many friendly and qualifying matches; in the year after the 1958 World Cup he only played twice for les bleus. He also appeared in the 1954 Finals, and scored 18 times for his country. In 1970, he became the first French footballer to be awarded the Légion d’honneur.
In retirement he spent much of the year in Corsica, and played football every Sunday into his seventies.
He is survived by his wife Christiane Bourrigault, the sister of a team-mate at Angers and herself a basketball player. They married in 1953 and besides their son had two daughters, Nadine and Sophie.
Raymond Kopa, born October 13 1931, died March 3 2017