Raymond Kopa: the Frenchman who won the 1958 Ballon d'Or

Raymond Kopa won the league with Reims, three European Cups with Real Madrid, a World Cup medal in 1958 and, that same year, the Ballon d'Or. He was also a footballer who made his own decisions: he left for Madrid at the top of his game, then turned down a new contract there to go home.

He played as an inside forward, and his career ran from Angers in 1949 to a last game in 1969.

The numbers

The curve is steady from 1951 to 1959 and peaks on his return to Reims in 1959–60. After that goals become rarer, but he played on for seven more seasons.

From Noeux-les-Mines to Reims

Kopa joined the academy of the local club, US Noeux-les-Mines, at the age of 10 in 1941. In 1949 he reached the final of a national youth trial, finishing second to Jean Saupin, and only Angers, then in the second division, made him an offer. He spent two seasons there, played 60 league games and worked as an electrician.

Albert Batteux signed him for Stade de Reims in September 1951, for about 1.8 million francs. He made his debut on 2 September 1951 in a 0–0 draw with Strasbourg. Reims won Division 1 in 1952–53 and 1954–55. In 1953 he won the Latin Cup, scoring twice in the final against AC Milan at the Estádio Nacional do Jamor in Lisbon.

Paris, 13 June 1956

The first European Cup final was at the Parc des Princes, and Reims were in it. They went 2–0 up within ten minutes, through Leblond and Templin. Real Madrid came back to win 4–3 with goals from Alfredo Di Stéfano, Héctor Rial twice and Marquitos, in front of 38,239. Kopa, in the number 10 shirt, started for Reims. It was his last game for the club on that spell.

Real Madrid

Real Madrid paid 52 million francs for him, reportedly about £38,000, and offered ten times his salary at Reims. He made his debut on 4 October 1956 with a hat-trick in a 14–1 friendly win over Sochaux, and two weeks later scored twice in a 7–1 league win over Real Jaén. The fans called him "Kopita", little Kopa.

In three seasons he won La Liga in 1956–57 and 1957–58, the Latin Cup against Benfica in 1957 and three European Cups in a row, in 1956–57, 1957–58 and 1958–59. In the 1959 final, against Reims, he was injured by a bad tackle from Jean Vincent.

The trophies

He won the Ballon d'Or in 1958 with 71 votes, after finishing third in both 1956 and 1957. In 110 games for Madrid he scored 32 goals.

France: 1958

Kopa made his France debut on 5 October 1952, in a 3–1 win over West Germany at Colombes. At the 1954 World Cup France lost 1–0 to Yugoslavia and won 3–2 against Mexico, with a penalty from Kopa, and went out in the group stage.

Four years later, in Sweden, he formed an attacking trio with Roger Piantoni and Just Fontaine. Kopa scored three goals, against Paraguay and Scotland in the group stage and West Germany in the third-place match. France finished third, and he was chosen as the best player of the tournament. His last cap was a 3–2 defeat to Hungary on 11 November 1962.

Back to Reims

After 1958–59 Madrid offered him a five-year contract with a large raise. He turned it down, because his wife wanted to return to France. In July 1959 he was about to sign for Anderlecht, but the deal collapsed a week later over pay, with the Belgian club wanting to pay monthly and Kopa a lump sum. He went back to Reims.

The Piantoni–Fontaine–Kopa trio continued at Reims from 1959 to 1962, and the club won Division 1 in 1959–60 and 1961–62. After Reims were relegated in 1963–64, he stayed, and the Division 2 title in 1965–66 brought them back. He announced his retirement in the summer of 1967, and later returned to play one game in the 1968–69 Coupe de France, in which he scored.

After football

He launched his own sportswear brand, from which he retired in 1991, and settled in Corsica. In 1985 he competed in the Paris–Dakar Rally, finishing 64th with Étienne Smulevici in a Mitsubishi Pajero.

Kopa died in Angers on 3 March 2017, aged 85. Less than a month later Angers announced that the Stade Jean-Bouin would be renamed the Stade Raymond-Kopa. In 2018 France Football launched the Kopa Trophy, awarded to the best young footballer of the year, and the first winner was Kylian Mbappé.

"I think Raymond was the first great French footballer"

— Michel Platini on Kopa's death, March 2017, as reported by AP

Why he is remembered

Kopa won the Ballon d'Or in 1958 and three European Cups, then walked away from a new contract at Madrid to go home. Platini called him the first great French footballer, and the trophy for the best young player of the year carries his name.