Just Fontaine dead – Legendary France World Cup record holder dies
Just Fontaine, the record holder for most goals scored in a single World Cup, has died at the age of 89. The legendary striker scored 13 times in six matches at the 1958 World Cup as France made it to third place.
He had a sensational record for Les Blues before his career was cut short by injury, scoring 30 goals over the course of 21 appearances between 1953 and 1960.
During his club career, Fontaine played for USM Casablanca, Nice and Stade Reims. He won the French first division four times, as well as the Coupe de France and the French Super Cup with Reims.
After retiring from football in 1962, aged 28, he went on to have a career in management, briefly holding the role of France boss in 1967. He went on to take the reins of Luchon, PSG and Toulouse before taking over the Moroccan national team where he lead the Atlas Lions to third place in the 1980 African Cup of Nations.
He was born in Marrakech in 1933 while Morocco was still part of the French Empire and had a Spanish mother but chose to represent France during his international career.
He remains one of the top scorers in World Cup history despite only playing in one tournament. He is fourth in the list of all-time scorers for the competition alongside Lionel Messi with just Miroslav Klose, Ronaldo and Gerd Muller ahead of him.
His sensational 13-goal record at the 1958 World Cup may never be beaten with few players coming close to topping it in the years since. It was Muller who made the best attempt, finding the net 10 times in 1970.
Fontaine had the immense respect of his fellow football players with Pele naming him as one of the top 125 living players in 2004 while he was also crowned the best French player of the last 50 years by the French Football Federation at an awards ceremony in 2003.
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