French legend Batteux dies
Saturday, March 1, 2003
Article summary
Former France manager Albert Batteux, one of his country's most successful coaches, died on Friday aged 83.
Article body
The former France manager Albert Batteux, one of his country's most successful coaches after spells with Stade de Reims and AS Saint-Etienne, died yesterday at the age of 83.
First European Cup final
Batteux guided Reims, France's leading club of the 1950s and 60s, to five domestic titles and one French Cup plus two European Champion Clubs’ Cup finals, including the very first, which they lost to Real Madrid CF in 1956 and 1959.
Third in Sweden
Batteux was France manager at the 1958 World Cup finals in Sweden where his team finished third. "In 1958, he led France to an extraordinary performance,” said former France manager Michel Hidalgo, who played under Batteux at Reims. “If France had not finished with ten (players) in the semi-finals against Brazil, who knows, we could have gone further,” added Hidalgo, who led France to the European title in 1984.
"A la Reims"
Batteux later took the reins at St Etienne, winning four domestic titles and two French cups between 1967 and 1970. Leading figures in the French game paid tribute to the coach who invented a unique style of play “à la Reims”. Sports minister Jean-Francois Lamour said: “French soccer has lost one of its legends.”
'The joy of playing'
Former St Etienne player Jean-Michel Larque said Batteux had never given any aggressive instructions to his players. “Today you hear some coaches talk about war, aggression. I never heard such words from Albert Batteux's mouth. He would always talk about pleasure, about the joy of playing,” he added.
Minute's silence
Influential AJ Auxerre coach Guy Roux asked for the minute’s silence to be respected before the start of French matches this weekend as a tribute to “a coach of such stature”. “He was the icon coach of my generation,” he added.
Eight French caps
Born in Reims in 1919, Batteux spent all his playing career with his hometown club, winning the domestic title in 1949 while being capped eight times by France. At the end of his playing days, he took over as Reims coach and discovered greats like Raymond Kopa and Just Fontaine. They were the leading players in the France team in 1958 when Fontaine was top goalscorer at the World Cup finals with 13 goals, a total that has still not been beaten. Batteux retired in Grenoble, where he will be buried on Tuesday.
