The former Marseille and Montpellier coach has died at the age of 72. He leaves behind the image of a charismatic player and technician.
The world of football is once again in mourning. After the death of Jean-Louis Gasset on December 26, another football figure passed away. Rolland Courbis, former football player and coach, notably for OM and Bordeaux, has died at the age of 72, RMC radio announced on Monday, where he had worked as a consultant since 2005. With him, it is a certain idea of football, a style, a face and a real character that is leaving us. “ Rolland Courbis died last night at five in the morning », Announced on the air of RMC Karim Nedjari, the general director of the radio. A native of Marseille, Courbis began his career as a defender before moving to the position of coach, standing out for his banter and his sanguine style.
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Death of Rolland Courbis: Deschamps, Fernandez, Marseille… The world of football pays tribute to “a true enthusiast”
A real character in French football
Three times French champion as a player with OM (1972) and AS Monaco (1978, 1982), the Marseillais had a successful stint on the coaching bench by becoming a recognized technician for the Girondins de Bordeaux (1992-1994 then 1996-1997) – where he had a certain Zinédine Zidane under his command – at Toulouse FC (1994-1995), at Olympique de Marseille (1997-1999) or at RC Lens (2000-2001), at AC Ajaccio (2001-2003) and at Montpellier (2007-2009 then 2013-2015).
“French football is losing an endearing, warm personality with a strong character”
Didier Deschamps
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« He loved football with a devouring passionsays, on the verge of tears, Jean-Luc Ettori, who met him at AS Monaco in the 1970s. You started dinner at 8 p.m. with him and you can be sure that at the end of the night, you were still talking about football. I owe him a lot when I started my career at Monaco and he was a player. I was in goal because the starting goalkeeper was injured but at the time (1977), Lucien Leduc (the coach, Editor’s note) The question was whether to bet on me. And Rolland had this extraordinary sentence : “Coach, I don’t know if the little one will be good, but in any case, he has a huge ass, so we’ll put him in!” It was one of the shocking phrases that stuck with him so much. A hell of a character. »
A true leader of men, with benevolent, flowery and sometimes authoritarian management, Rolland Courbis leaves the image of a passionate and whole character. Off the field, he had several romances, married twice, and notably had an affair with the Italian Countess Rizzoli in the 1980s. “This is what caused me a lot of jealousy, he admitted on the set of Thierry Ardisson in 2000. Sometimes, for a little humor, I say: “If I had known, to avoid this jealousy, I would have taken a tramp, poor, ugly, but I took a rich countess, what do you want.” »
This Monday, supporters of OM, Bordeaux and even Montpellier are mourning the memory of a man who left no one indifferent. On the dark side, he was convicted in 1995 and then 1997 by the courts in the Sporting Club Toulon “slush fund” affair for false invoices and tax evasion. Then also in September 2009 for suspicious transfers in the OM accounts affair. Two stays in prison which will have marked the man but not affected his sympathy rating.
On the pitch, no one has forgotten the unforgettable OM-Montpellier of August 22, 1998 when the Marseille club, led by Rolland Courbis, was swept aside 0-4 at half-time by the MHSC led by the late Louis Nicollin… before achieving a second dream period and winning in an incandescent Vélodrome (5-4). « We weren’t even bad, we were downright ridiculouswhispered the coach in a trance after a match that will forever be remembered. I had even already started preparing the excuses, I was so ashamed. » From Courbis in the text.
A great success on the radio
Passionate, attentive to the evolution of the game, of young people, never the last to deliver tasty anecdotes and always ready to open the memory box, Rolland Courbis has often suffered from not presenting a record to match his charisma, with a UEFA Cup final, a place as vice-champion of France with OM in 1999 or even a Coupe de la Ligue final in 1997 in Bordeaux to his credit. « He managed to give you chills, to ensure that you could transcend yourself through sentences but also attitudesremembers Ettori. He was typecast a little too much as the firefighter on duty. Maybe that did him a little disservice. He was more than that. » A label which annoyed the person concerned. « In football, we like to put people in boxes and categoriesnuance Laurent Nicollin, son of the iconic Louis, and boss of the Montpellier club, who hired the services of Courbis twice in his career. Firefighter on duty? This perhaps corresponded more to his itinerary than to his way of managing a group. »
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After a final experience near Sète in 2022, the Marseillais left the role of technician to successfully devote himself to his role as radio consultant and the famous “Coach Courbis”. A real character from a novel, passionate about gambling and casinos, and known for being a gambler, the man with the big mouth and his ringlets from his days as a gambler has continued to carry his wit throughout his life. « He was someone so alive, who took life from both endssays son Nicollin with emotion. A real colorful character, who liked to eat well, we ended up together. It was always more convivial in the restaurant than finding yourself in a sad room with a blackboard. It involved laughs, good moments of conviviality, as we like to do at home. He was part of the family. » And Nicollin added: “Rolland was exuberant, but he had a very endearing side. »
Since the announcement of his death, the football world has mourned his “Rolland”. Managers, former clubs, journalists, the kid from Marseille alone tells the story of a certain era. “With its disappearance, French football loses an endearing, warm personality with a strong character.plant Didier Deschamps. He was a real enthusiast. And this passion, he had chosen to transmit it, in recent years, behind a microphone. »
He was happy and cheerful
Luis Fernandez
Same tone with Luis Fernandez (66 years old), current consultant for beIN Sports, who never stopped meeting him in Cannes, Toulon or even Paris and Marseille, during his career as a player and coach, before meeting him on the radio. « Rolland left his mark on his time in the world of footballadvances the 1984 European champion. We liked it or not. I loved him a lot. I was a fan of his because we had a good connection, we talked to each other, we exchanged. Rolland was football, his phrasing, his outspokenness. He was six years older than me, but we got along very well. It’s a Marseillais that I liked, a Marseillais with whom I had fun. We worked together on the radio and it was always a treat to listen to him. I really liked the man. He was happy and cheerful. » To his family, Le Figaro sends its most sincere condolences.
