Scored record 13 goals for France at 1958 World Cup
JUST FONTAINE | Aug. 18, 1933 - March 1, 2023
PARIS — No one could beat Just Fontaine’s World Cup scoring record during his lifetime.
His 13 goals in a single tournament was set with France in 1958 and has withstood 16 World Cups since.
Mr. Fontaine’s death was confirmed Wednesday by his former club Reims and the French soccer federation. He was 89.
The closest anyone has come to Mr. Fontaine’s tally was Gerd Müller, who scored 10 for West Germany in 1970. Kylian Mbappe scored eight at last year’s World Cup.
Mr. Fontaine took six games to achieve his feat at the World Cup in Sweden, shortly after winning a French league and French Cup double with Reims and leading the league with 34 goals.
“Justo is, and will remain a legend of the French team,” France coach Didier Deschamps said.
Entering the World Cup tournament, the Moroccanborn Mr. Fontaine was a little-known forward outside of the French league. Yet he tormented opponents with his lightning speed and finishing touch — and even with someone else’s boots. He had to borrow a pair of cleats after damaging his own in practice.
Mr. Fontaine scored four goals in the third-place game against West Germany but could have had five if he had taken the penalty kick.
Mr. Fontaine set the record when FIFA did not present a specific award for the tournament’s top scorer — now called the Golden Boot.
Mr. Fontaine was modestly but symbolically rewarded.
“All I got was a rifle from a Swedish newspaper for being top marksman,” Mr. Fontaine told The Associated Press in a 2006 interview.
In addition to his feats with the national team, Mr. Fontaine won the French league title four times, the French Cup and reached the final of the 1959 European Cup during his club career with USM Casablanca, Nice and Reims.
After he retired, Mr. Fontaine co-founded France’s players’ union and served as chairman for a few years. He also briefly coached France’s national team before stints with Luchon, Paris Saint-Germain, Toulouse and the Moroccan national team.
“A French football icon has passed, and Paris Saint-Germain would like to pay tribute to the man who led them to the first division some 50 years ago,” PSG said in a statement, referring to Fontaine guiding the club to the top league after a playoff win in 1974.
The French soccer federation said tributes to Mr. Fontaine will take place across France this weekend with a “minute of homage” that will also be observed Wednesday before French Cup games at Toulouse, Marseille and Nantes.
“The death of Just Fontaine plunges French soccer into deep emotion and immense sadness,” said Philippe Diallo, the French federation’s interim president. “He wrote one of the most beautiful pages in the history of the French national team.”
Mr. Fontaine considered his World Cup record to be out of reach in modern soccer.
“I don’t think it can ever be done,” Mr. Fontaine told The AP in 2006. “The person who wants to beat me has a massive task, doesn’t he? He has to score two goals per game over seven games.”
Playing in the days when no substitutions were allowed, France lost, 5-2, in the semifinals against a Brazil team featuring 17-year-old Pele.
“As soon as Pele touched the ball you knew he was wonderful,” Mr. Fontaine said in 2006. “He scored three against us. But it was only when I watched the final (vs. Sweden) that I realized just how good he was.”
Mr. Fontaine, who scored in every match, gave France an early lead with the first goal Brazil allowed in the tournament. But at 1- 1, France defender Robert Jonquet broke his leg. Amazingly, he played on against the genius of Pele.