Le Grand Reims, the first big french team
Nowadays, the Stade de Reims gained some notoriety for having Will Still, a Belgian coach who achieved good results with the club and who was a great fan of Football Manager, where he acknowledged that he learned a lot about his profession. However, the Reims club has a very rich history and in fact, they had one of the best teams of the 50s. Today we will talk about Le Grand Reims.
Reim's home stadium Stade Auguste-Delaune with the Raymond Kopa statue in front
History of the Stade de Reims
The Stade de Reims was founded on June 18, 1910 under the name of Société Sportive du Parc Pommery by Marquis Melchior de Polignac, who was responsible for the idea of creating a club in the region and for developing the project. De Polignac developed in several sports although he stood out most in polo in addition to being a referee in Olympic competitions, a role that helped him hold several positions in the International Olympic Committee.The club changed its name to Stade de Reims in 1931 and remained as an amateur club until 1935 when they became champions of the national amateur championship. The club would reach the first tier for the first time in the 1945-46 season.
Albert Batteux
Originally from Reims, Batteux arrived at the Stade de Reims at just 18 years old to begin his professional career with the club in 1937, where he worked as an attacking midfielder. Under the tutelage of Henri Roessler, the club won its first league in 1949 and the Coupe de France in 1950, its first titles as a professional club. In 1950, after winning the cup, Roessler left Reims to join Olympique de Marseille. The president of Reims at that time, Henri Germain, decided to give the position to Batteux who had just retired as a professional football player.Batteux was a lover of offensive football and wanted Reims to play in an elegant way that would stand out in the fans' retinas. He was one of those responsible for the arrival of several players who would become legends in the club such as Raymond Kopa, whom he signed from Angers in Division 2 when he was only 19 years old and whom he supported when he was most criticized for his constant dribbling.
"The day you stop dribbling, that day I'll kick you out," Batteux said in reference to Kopa. The manager considered it important that his philosophy and way of seeing football reach the general public and that is why he wrote in prestigious publications such as France Football or Miroir du Football, condemning the violent and defensive game and highlighting the virtues of his proposal.
At Reims, the manager would win 5 league titles, a French Cup, a Latin Cup and reach two European Cup finals, not to mention that he formed one of the most powerful teams of his time and one of the best in the history of French football. Batteux would not only make history with Reims but would also coach the France national team with which he would achieve a third place in the 1958 FIFA World Cup and a fourth place in the 1960 Euro. To this we must add that at the end of the 60s, he was champion of Ligue 1 three times in a row with Saint-Etienne. All this makes him the most successful manager in the history of French football.
Le Grand Reims
The first Reims champion, coached by Henri Roessler in 1949, was a team made up of players from youth teams such as Roger Marche, Robert Jonquet and Armand Penverne, all of whom became international players with the France national team, playing more than 30 games.In 1950, with the change of manager, Batteux's approach was that of a more spectator-friendly game with a lot of attack and talent, for which he began to look for players in France with sufficient quality to meet the expectations that himself had imposed.
This is how a talent like Raymond Kopa arrived who would go on to win the Ballon d'Or or like Léon Glovacki, international with France, who would join the players from the youth teams such as Marche, Jonquet, Penverne and a young René Bliard, who was taking his first steps in professional football. That team, full of talent, won Ligue 1 and the Latin Cup in 1953 and would repeat the league title in 1955.
As champions of France, they earned the right to play in the first edition of the European Cup (1956), where they would reach to the final undefeated, however, in the decisive match the most feared team in the competition awaited (although at that time no one knew it), Real Madrid.
As if it were a demonstration of what the future of the competition would be, Reims started winning 2-0 in 10 minutes. However, Real Madrid made a comeback led by Di Stefano that led them to win their first European Cup by 4 -3. That match (along with a match between Spain and France a year before), confirmed to the Madrid club that Kopa was an ideal complement to the stars they already had such as Di Stefano, Gento or Puskas, which is why they signed the "little Napoleon" that same summer.
Having suffered the departure of their star, Reims went to the market and brought in two high-level players to compensate for Kopa's departure and thus Just Fontaine arrived from Nice and Jean Vincent from Lille. A year later, goalkeeper Dominique Colonna and Roger Piantoni would arrive to further strengthen a team that was already the strongest in France and one of the teams to beat in Europe. In the 1957-58 season, they would win the double (Ligue 1 and Coupe de France) and as a curiosity, Kopa won the Ballon d'Or.
In that context, the 1958 FIFA World Cup arrived, with a France that had 6 players from Stade de Reims plus Kopa who was at Real Madrid and Roger Marche who had changed Reims for RC Paris. To this we had to add that the head coach was Albert Batteux. The France national team achieved third place in the competition, the best achieved by the Gauls until 1998 when they were crowned champions.
Returning to Reims, being once again champions of France, they participated again in the European Cup. Le Grand Reims would reach the final again and would meet again with Real Madrid who, this time, in addition to having Di Stefano or Gento, had a Kopa at a superlative level. This time, Real Madrid would win without needing to come back, with a 2-0 score. Once again, Reims would be on the verge of achieving international glory in the top European competition. The club would win a couple of leagues in the next 3 years, although after that it would fall little by little, losing its status as a powerhouse team in France and Europe.
Follow us
