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Monument of French football, Just Fontaine, who died on Wednesday, had a special link with Morocco. Born in Marrakech, the 1958 World Cup record holder began his playing career there and completed his coaching career.
French legend par excellence, Just Fontaine, died Wednesday 1is March in Toulouse, often recalled all that he owed to Morocco. A country where the record holder for goals scored in a single World Cup was born, where he played and where he ended his coaching career.
“Justo” was born on August 18, 1933 in the district of Guéliz in Marrakech, Morocco, still under the protectorate of the French State. His father works as a civil servant at the Régie des tabacs while his mother, of Spanish origin, stays at home to take care of seven siblings.
“I learned to play football there”
Athlete, he tries his hand at basketball as well as football. It is finally this second sport which has its favours. He dreamed of taking over from Larbi Ben Barek, the “black pearl”, Franco-Moroccan legend, having made a career for both the Blues and the Atlas Lions.
“I had a happy childhood. I learned to play football there,” he recalled in 2000 in the columns of Time.
Turbulent, he was expelled from his high school and finally passed his baccalaureate in Casablanca. It was also in this city that he began his senior career with US Marocaine, like another of his idols Mario Zatelli. In this jersey, he scored 62 goals in 48 matches.
An outstanding striker, he was selected several times with the team representing the Moroccan League. He won the North African Championship with her in 1952. The same year, he even played a match against the B team of the France team on Christmas Day. It will eventually become the 1is French from Morocco called en Bleu.
“Give back what they gave me”
However, they forged his legend far from Morocco, with OGC Nice, then the Stade de Reims, and especially the France team. In Blue, he played a memorable 1958 World Cup, scoring 13 goals in 7 matches, a record that still stands at the time of his death even though the number of matches per final phase has increased.
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After a disastrous experience in the France team – he will only lead the Blues for two matches – Morocco becomes the only other national team he has led. He took care of the Atlas Lions between 1979 and 1981. An upset experience however: he did not personally lead his players to third place during the CAN-1980 in Nigeria due to a road accident. shortly before the tournament.
“I wanted to give back what they had given me. If I was a footballer, it’s thanks to Morocco”, he explains to the team about this Moroccan experience.
Defender of the Moroccan candidacy for a world
Throughout the rest of his life, “Justo” will remain a football addict, able to watch for hours on television, from the French championship to the CAN through women’s football. The striker was also a fervent defender of the various Moroccan candidacies to organize a World Cup.
“I am proud of this candidacy. It seems to me that it is Africa’s turn to finally organize a football World Cup. All the continents have set up this competition. Except her”, he explained, while Fifa was going to decide the place of the World Cup-2006. “Morocco is a football country. It is a candidate for the third time (Editor’s note: after 1994 and 1998); Morocco was the first African team to qualify for a final phase (1970), the first to reach the 8th final (1986). In terms of security, the king has proven himself. As well as in terms of human rights.”
That year, the world will finally go to Germany. Then, Fifa will offer South Africa the honor of being the 1is African country to organize the World Cup (2010) while the honor of being the 1is Arab country was offered to Qatar (2022). Morocco is still waiting and hoping for 2030.
“If Morocco won the organization of the competition, I would feel like scoring my fourteenth goal in the World Cup,” he explained to Le Temps. It may be done posthumously.
