Just Fontaine

• 1. Introduction

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  Just Fontaine scored thirteen goals at the 1958 FIFA World Cup. Not across a tournament run that stretched years or multiple competitions. Thirteen goals in six matches, across a single World Cup in Sweden. No player, in any World Cup before or since, has come close to that number in a single edition. That record has stood for more than six decades, and today it still stands. Who was the man who set it? Where did he come from? And why did his career end before he turned thirty?

• 2. Roots in Morocco

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  Fontaine was born on the 18th of August 1933 in Marrakech, then part of French Morocco, to a French father and a Spanish mother. The family moved to Casablanca, where he attended the Lycée Lyautey. That mixed background, French by passport but shaped by North Africa, followed him through his entire life. He began his playing career at USM Casablanca in 1950 and remained there until 1953. In those three seasons he scored at a rate that caught the eye of recruiters from mainland France. Nice came calling in 1953, and Fontaine left Morocco for the French Division 1.

• 3. The Reims Years

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  Fontaine scored 44 goals across three seasons at Nice, winning the Division 1 title in the 1955-56 campaign and a Coupe de France in 1953-54 before his move. In 1956 he transferred to Stade de Reims, the most decorated club in France at the time. There he formed a partnership with Raymond Kopa from the 1959-60 season onward. At Reims, Fontaine was relentless: 121 goals in six seasons. His career Division 1 total reached 165 goals in 200 appearances, with championship titles in 1958 and 1960. In the 1958-59 European Cup, he finished as the competition's top scorer with ten goals, even as Reims fell to Real Madrid in the final.

• 4. Sweden, 1958

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  France arrived in Sweden for the 1958 World Cup, and Fontaine wasted no time. He scored in France's group stage opener against Paraguay on the 8th of June 1958 at Idrottsparken in Norrköping, finishing with two goals in a 7-3 win. Against Yugoslavia on the 11th of June at Arosvallen in Västerås, he added another. West Germany, the defending champions, met France in the third-place match on the 28th of June at Ullevi in Gothenburg. Fontaine put four past them, securing a 6-3 victory. When the tournament closed, his tally of thirteen stood alone. He collected the Golden Boot and a third-place finish in the Ballon d'Or ranking for that year. Gerd Müller, Ronaldo, and Miroslav Klose have since surpassed his all-time World Cup total, but each of them needed at least two tournaments to do it.

• 5. International Beginnings

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  Fontaine's debut for France came on the 17th of December 1953 at the Parc des Princes in Paris. He scored a hat trick that night as France beat Luxembourg 8-0 in a 1954 World Cup qualifier. Over the next seven years he went on to score 30 goals in 21 international appearances. His record across clubs and country placed him among the most efficient strikers of his era. In November 2003, the French Football Federation named him the best French player of the previous 60 years as part of the UEFA Jubilee Awards.

• 6. Early Retirement and Life After Playing

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  Fontaine played his last match in July 1962. A recurring leg injury forced him to retire at the age of 28 years and 11 months, cutting short a career that showed no sign of slowing down. Off the pitch, he was equally active. In 1961, alongside Eugène N'Jo Léa, he co-founded the National Union of Professional Football Players in France. He took a brief turn managing the French national team in 1967, but was replaced after just two friendly games, both of which ended in defeats. His coaching work in Africa proved more durable. As manager of Morocco, he guided the Atlas Lions to third place at the 1980 African Cup of Nations, overseeing players including Badou Zaki, Mohammed Timoumi, and Aziz Bouderbala. Morocco came within reach of the 1982 World Cup but lost their final qualification match to Cameroon. Later, as sporting director of Paris Saint-Germain, he helped lift the club into the first division. In March 2004, Pelé included him among the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers presented at a FIFA Awards Ceremony. Fontaine received the FIFA Order of Merit in 1994, was appointed a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1984, and was elevated to Officer of the Legion of Honour in 2013. He died in Toulouse on the 28th of February 2023, at the age of 89, having lived in that city for sixty years.