Lucien Laurent

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Lucien Laurent scored the most historically significant goal in the history of football, and almost nobody at the time understood what they had just witnessed. On the 13th of July 1930, at the Estadio Pocitos in Montevideo, Uruguay, a French forward struck a volley in the 19th minute against Mexico. The ball went in. In that instant, the World Cup had its very first goal. Laurent was not a professional. He was a factory worker employed by Peugeot. He had traveled thousands of miles to take part in a new tournament whose stakes and longevity no one could yet predict. Who was this man? How did a semi-amateur end up making history? And what did the rest of his life look like, after scoring a goal the world would spend decades talking about?

• 2. From Paris to Peugeot

  ›

  Laurent was born on the 10th of December 1907 in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, a commune in the Val-de-Marne near Paris. Football ran in the family. His older brother Jean also played the sport, also represented France, and was also named to the squad for the 1930 World Cup. Lucien's club career began early. Between 1921 and 1930, he played for Cercle Athlétique de Paris, a semi-professional outfit. He was then taken on by Sochaux, a team that operated as a workers side for the car manufacturer Peugeot. Laurent was not merely attached to Peugeot through football. He was an employee of the company. At the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay, his status as an amateur meant he received only basic compensation from the French Football Federation. The man who would score the tournament's opening goal was being paid the bare minimum while doing so.

• 3. The Moment at Estadio Pocitos

  ›

  France's group-stage fixture against Mexico on the 13th of July 1930 took place at the Estadio Pocitos in Montevideo. In the 19th minute, Laurent met the ball on the volley and put it past the Mexican goalkeeper. It was, though no one had the framework to call it this yet, the first goal in World Cup history. France won that match 4-1. The tournament, however, did not continue well for the French side. They lost their remaining group matches to Argentina and Chile, going out in the group stage. Laurent himself was ruled out of the third game due to injury. The historic opener earned France nothing in terms of advancement. Laurent's own international record was modest: ten caps for France in total, and only one other goal, scored against England in May 1931.

• 4. War and Retirement

  ›

  Laurent's domestic career continued after Uruguay. He moved to Rennes, where he played until 1937, then on to RC Strasbourg until 1939. He had also been named to the French squad for the 1934 World Cup, though injury prevented him from playing. When the Second World War began, Laurent joined the French armed forces. He spent three years as a prisoner of war in Saxony before being released in 1943. After his release, he played two years of wartime football for Besançon before retiring from the game in 1946. He then turned to coaching, working as a trainer and youth coach.

• 5. Witness to 1998

  ›

  Laurent outlived every other member of the French squad that had traveled to Uruguay in 1930. He was the sole surviving player from that group when France hosted and won the 1998 FIFA World Cup on home soil. He watched France lift the trophy, nearly seven decades after his volley at the Estadio Pocitos had given the entire competition its first moment. Laurent died on the 11th of April 2005 in Besançon, at the age of 97. CA Paris, the club where he had spent the bulk of his early career, reached the Coupe de France final in 1928, finishing as runners-up. Sochaux, where Laurent worked as a Peugeot employee while playing football, won the Peugeot Cup in 1931.