Rolland Courbis, former coach and consultant on RMC, died at 72. He had coached Bordeaux, Olympique de Marseille and even Montpellier.
He was a figure in French football. A voice, a face and a character. Rolland Courbis, former coach and consultant on RMC, died at 72.
A true Pagnolesque character, he was born in Marseille, Rolland Courbis started as a defender. He won the French championship title three times (with OM in 1972 and with AS Monaco in 1978 and 1982). He then coached Toulon, Bordeaux, Olympique de Marseille and even Montpellier. Strong-mouthed, without a preferred playing system, he often led commando operations to save clubs from relegation. He also had several experiences abroad, notably in Africa (Niger, USM Algiers), the United Arab Emirates (Al-Wahda) and Switzerland (FC Sion).
Two stays in prison
After the end of his coaching career, he joined RMC to become one of the station’s key consultants with Luis Fernandez and Jean-Michel Larqué. He was on the radio as on the field: iconoclastic, courageous, with cheeky cheekiness and a unique sanguine style. “Rolland Courbis passed away last night at five in the morning,” Karim Nedjari, the general director of RMC, announced on RMC.
Courbis was also preceded by a sulphurous reputation. He had spent two stays in prison, between October 1990 and January 1991 in the context of the Toulon club slush fund affair, and between September 2009 and February 2010 in the OM accounts affair. He had also narrowly escaped a shooting during a settling of scores targeting a figure in the Corsican community whom he accompanied to Hyères in 1996.
