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Paul Nicolas

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French footballer (1899–1959) For the French Olympic boxer, see Paul Nicolas (boxer). For the British historian, see Paul Harris Nicolas. For the British actor and singer, see Paul Nicholas.

Paul Nicolas
Nicolas in 1957
Personal information
Date of birth (1899-11-04)4 November 1899
Place of birth Saint-Mandé, France
Date of death 3 March 1959(1959-03-03) (aged 59)
Place of death Gy-l'Évêque, France
Position(s) Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
0000–1916 Saint-Mandé Club
1916–1919 Gallia Club
1919–1929 Red Star Olympique
1929–1935 Amiens SC
International career
1919 France military 4 (7)
1920–1931 France 35 (20)
Managerial career
1949–1950 France
1954–1959 France (director)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Paul Nicolas (4 November 1899 – 3 March 1959) was a French footballer who played as a striker. He was part of the France national football teams at the 1920, 1924, and 1928 Summer Olympics.

He was also part of the France national football team selection committee.

Club career

Paul Nicolas lost his mother at the age of 3, and then his father in 1914. He was raised by his mother-in-law together with his brother Henri. He began his football career with Saint-Mandé Club in 1916. Initially, he played as a defender, but he quickly realized that his destiny laid at the forefront since he scored many goals. In addition to his goal-scoring instinct, Nicolas also stood out for his strong character on the pitch, and these two qualities combined eventually drew the attention of Mr. Fort, the then president of the Gallia Club, who signed him as a centre-forward in 1916.

At the time, center-forwards usually were corpulent, aggressive and impetuous players, but Nicolas revolutionized the way of playing as a forward striker, imposing his talent, his skill with both feet, and intuition to position himself in the right place, thus being described as a "precursor and prototype of the modern striker, scorer at heart but just as altruistic in the last gesture".

Paul Nicolas joined the army around the end of World War I, thus leaving for Paris. On 5 March 1919, while he was in the army, he met on the station platform a former brilliant captain of Red Star F.C.: Lucien Gamblin, who convinced him to join him at Red Star given his reputation as a skillful centre-forward. Nicolas proved to be a great recruitment as he went on to play a pivotal role in helping the club win the Coupe de France four times, including three in a row between 1921 and 1923, scoring once in the 1922 final to help his side to a 2–0 victory over Rennais. He helped the club win its fourth Coupe in 1928.

In 1929, Paul Nicolas left Red Star for family reasons and moved to Amiens where he opened a grocery store, which is why he joined Amiens SC, with whom he played for six years before ending his career in 1935, in the round of 16 of the 1934–35 Coupe de France, in which Amiens was eliminated by Red Star after a playoff match.

International career

Paul Nicolas in 1924

He played in 44 matches for the France national team between 1920 and 1921, scoring a then national record of 20 goals. He participated in the football tournaments of three Olympic games (1920, 1924, and 1928), scoring a total of four goals in five games, including one against Uruguay, which was the best team at the time. Despite his great performances at the Olympics, the 31-year-old Paul Nicolas failed to participate in the inaugural tournament of the World Cup in 1930 to end his magnificent international career on a high.

This tally includes two hat-tricks, one in a 4–1 win over Yugoslavia on 13 June 1926, and the other to help his side to a 4–0 win over Northern Ireland on 21 February 1928.

In 1919, Nicolas took part in the Inter-Allied Games in Paris, a large sports competition organized in celebration of the Allied victory in World War I, since he was a member of the military. However, the matches of the tournament are not included in the official FIFA register. Together with the likes of Lucien Gamblin and Albert Rénier, he helped France win Group A with two goals against Romania (4–0), a poker against Greece (11–0) and a decisive goal against Greece (2–0). However, he failed to score in the final as they were beaten 2–3 by Czechoslovakia.

Retirement

Memorial at Gy-l'Évêque where Paul Nicolas died in a road accident

A football lover, he could not bring himself to leave the world of football. Endowed with a strong personality, he joined the selection committee of the France national team in August 1949. He stayed there until December 1953, when, following the double disappearance of Emmanuel Gambardella and Georges Bayrou, he was appointed president of the Groupement des clubs authorized (the forerunner of the Ligue de Football Professionnel) — he would remain in this position until June 1956. He returns to the selection in September 1954 as "director of the France team", contributing to the team's third-place finish at the 1958 FIFA World Cup.

On his return from a disputed France-Belgium match in 1959 in Colombes, Paul Nicolas was the victim of a terrible car accident that cost him his life. His tragic death shook French football. Half a century later, his memory is still alive.

International goals

France score listed first, score column indicates score after each Nicolas goal.
List of international goals scored by Paul Nicolas
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 18 January 1920 Velodromo Sempione, Milan, Italy  Italy 1–3 4–9 Friendly
2 29 February 1920 Parc des Sports, Geneva, Switzerland   Switzerland 2–0 2–0 Friendly
3 28 March 1920 Parc des Princes, Paris, France  Belgium 1–1 2–1 Friendly
4 2–1
5 29 August 1920 Olympisch Stadion, Antwerp, Belgium  Italy 2–0 3–1 1920 Summer Olympics Quarter-finals
6 22 April 1923 Stade Pershing, Paris, France   Switzerland 2–2 2–2 Friendly
7 27 May 1924 Stade Bauer, Saint-Ouen, France  Latvia 2–0 7–0 1924 Summer Olympics Round of 16
8 4–0
9 1 June 1924 Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes, France  Uruguay 1–1 1–5 1924 Summer Olympics Quarter-finals
10 25 April 1926 Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes, France   Switzerland 1–0 1–0 Friendly
11 13 June 1926 Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes, France  Yugoslavia 2–0 4–1 Friendly
12 3–1
13 4–1
14 21 February 1928 Stade Buffalo, Montrouge, France  Ireland 1–0 4–0 Friendly
15 2–0
16 3–0
17 11 March 1928 Stade olympique de la Pontaise, Lausanne, Switzerland   Switzerland 3–4 3–4 Friendly
18 29 April 1928 Parc des Princes, Paris, France  Portugal 1–1 1–1 Friendly
19 24 February 1929 Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes, France  Hungary 2–0 3–0 Friendly
20 24 March 1929 Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes, France  Portugal 1–0 2–0 Friendly

Honours

Red Star Olympique

France

References

  1. ^ "Paul Nicolas". Olympedia. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  2. "Avant 1964". www.fff.fr. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  3. ^ "Red star story: Paul Nicolas". archive.wikiwix.com (in French). 5 May 2011. Archived from the original on 15 June 2007. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  4. ^ "Paul Nicolas". Eu-football.info. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  5. "Soccer at the Inter-Allied Games of 1919: Top Stars". soccerhistoryusa.org. 6 March 2020. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  6. "Interallied Games 1919". RSSSF. 23 September 2021. Retrieved 27 August 2022.

External links

France squads
France football squad – 1920 Summer Olympics
France
France football squad – 1924 Summer Olympics
France
France football squad – 1928 Summer Olympics
France
France national football team – managers
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