Page 19 - soccer world cup

RAYMOND KOPA

 Position: Midfielder

Contributions to the selection: With the French football team debuted at age
21, in a game played on October 5, 1952 against West Germany, a meeting held in
Paris that won France for 3-1. He was present with France in the football World
Cup of 1954 in Switzerland, in which he debuted as a mundialist on June 16 in
Lausanne, in a meeting with Yugoslavia in which France fell by a goal to zero.

Awards: Elected best player of Europe by UEFA in 1958, best player of the French
league in 1960 and third best French player of the twentieth century by the
magazine France Football. It was twice bronze Ball (1956, 1957), Golden Ball (1958)
and Silver Ball (1959), recognized as one of the best players of mid-century
Europe, is with Michel Platini, and Zinedine Zidane, one of the four French
winners of the aforementioned award.
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