Fontaine’s former club, Reims, announced his death on Wednesday.
It took Fontaine six games to accomplish his feat at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, when he was named to the French national team at the last minute.
At the tournament, the Moroccan-born Fontaine was a little-known striker outside the French league. However, he tormented opponents with his speed and finishing punch – and even other people’s cleats. He had to borrow a pair of cleats after he damaged his own in training.
Fontaine scored four goals in the third-place match against West Germany, but he could have scored five if he had kicked a penalty kick.
In addition to his exploits with the national team, Fontaine won the French championship four times, the French Cup and reached the 1959 European Cup final with clubs USM Casablanca, Nice and Reims.
After his retirement, Fontaine briefly coached the French national team and then coached Luchon, Paris Saint-Germain, Toulouse and the Moroccan national team.
The highest scorer at the World Cup is currently celebrated with the Golden Boot award. Fontaine set the record when FIFA did not give a special award to the tournament’s top scorer.
Break my record? I don’t think it can ever be done, Fontaine told The Associated Press in 2006. A man who wants to break my record has a huge task, doesn’t he? He has to score two goals a game for seven games.
Playing in the days when no substitutions were allowed, France lost 5-2 in the semifinals against a Brazilian team that included a 17-year-old Pelé.
Fontaine, who scored in every match, gave France an early lead by scoring Brazil’s first goal of the tournament. But with the score at 1-1, French defender Robert Jonquet broke his leg. Surprisingly, he continued to play, trying to counter Pele’s genius, but the French defense was significantly weakened.
The men’s record for the most goals scored in a career at the World Cup is 16 by German striker Miroslav Klose, who played in four tournaments. Fontaine, who broke the record of 11 goals scored by Hungarian striker Sandor Kocsis in the 1954 tournament, has played in only one World Cup.
Brazilian striker Marta scored 17 goals in the women’s World Cups, playing in five tournaments.
Meteoric Rise Fo.nten as a scorer led to him scoring 200 goals in 213 games. He scored 30 goals in 21 games for France
Fontaine’s career came to an abrupt end when he was only 28 years old. The Frenchman, famous for his lightning-fast pace and ruthless feints, suffered a terrible leg fracture after a mistaken tackle in March 1960.
News source https://worldoffootball.in/
