Le Grand Stade de Reims 1952-62

While the club was one of the best in France after the Second World War, the club saw its coach at the time, Henri Roessler, resign after a victorious spell between 1945 and 1950. He had notably won 1 Winner of the Challenge des Champions, 1 Coupe de France and 1 French Championship.

His successor, Albert Batteux, then the team's interior striker, therefore had the difficult task from 1950 of promoting the club on a larger scale. After 2 seasons without trophies, the player decided to end his playing career and concentrate fully on his new role as coach.

During this famous 1952-53 season, the club decided to part ways with 4 players: Antoine Abenoza (Spanish) and three French players (Jean Béraudo, Bernard Delcampe and Mathieu Villanova). Only one recruit was made, the right winger playing in Troyes: Léon Glovacki.

The Reims stadium continues to evolve in the classic tactic of the 40s and 50s, the WM. With an iron defense, made up of Roger Marche, famous French player of the time and legend of the France team with 63 caps in total; of Robert Jonquet, surely the best French defender in history before the arrival of Marius Trésor; and Simon Zimny ​​who will spend the majority of his career in Reims.

In midfield, we find a duo with Armand Penverne and Raymond Cicci, aged 26 and 23 at the time. The two players had a similar style and played all of the club's matches that season.

The attack line is made up of 5 players, Jean Templin, a classic winger on the left side, on the right wing we therefore find Léon Glovacki, a winger who often cuts into the axis and who is an excellent scorer, in demonstrates his season with 11 goals in 32 matches. In the center we find the Dutch striker, Abraham Appel, who scores 30 goals in 33 matches. And behind them are the supporting attackers Francis Méano and Raymond Kopa, the team's rising star who at 21 has scored 13 goals.

This team with young and technical players is finally bearing fruit, they win the championship with 4 points ahead of FC Sochaux-Montbéliard. 34 matches, 22 wins, 4 draws, 8 defeats, for 86 goals scored and only 36 goals conceded. They therefore finished as the best attack and best defense in the championship.

In national cups, Reims disappoints, quickly eliminated from the Charles Drago Cups and the national cup. But where Reims will promote French football is in the Coupe Latine, the ancestor of the Champions League, even this one is not recognized by FIFA. In this cup which brought together 4 teams and which took place at the end of the season, we could see the recent champions of Spain, Italy, France and Portugal.

Reims won its semi-final against Valencia 2-1 before triumphing against AC Milan 3-0 with a goal from Méano and a double from the young Kopa. Reims is European champion.

The 1953-54 season began with the sales of André Jacowski and Pierre Sinibaldi, the legendary Reims striker and brother of Paul, the legendary Reims goalkeeper. To compensate for the departures, the club made 4 recruits: Jean Béraudo (who will leave in the winter), Arne Lundkvist, a Swedish striker who will struggle to establish himself in the team, Robert Siatka, who will take control of the midfield Reimois and Pierre-René Tholon, a promising defender.

This season is more complicated, the club only reaches second place in the championship despite a good start to the season, being eliminated in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France by Marseille 3-2. The only success of this season, a Charles Drago Cup won 6-3 against LOSC, recent winners of the championship.

The 1954-55 season marked the departure of the very good striker Abraham Appel, the excellent defender Roger Marche, Pierre-René Tholon who failed to establish himself, just like Arne Lundkvist who left for the winter transfer window at CA Paris.

The Reims Club relies on its renowned training center to continue its rise, only Michel Hidalgo, star of the Le Havres team, is recruited.

In the championship, the team lost a lot 9 matches, drew 6 times and won 19 matches, with this record, Reims once again won the championship with 44 points, 4 more than Toulouse FC.

René Bliard is the revelation of this season with 33 goals scored in 36 matches played at just 22 years old. Glovacki scores 10 goals in 34 games. Michel Hidalgo plants 12 in 26 games and Kopa in this supporting striker role scores 11 in 35 games. The Reims attack is the real strength of this team. It was also this year, 1954, which marked the beginning of the history of the famous corner at La Rémoise, a corner which would be taken up by all the teams afterwards. Although seeming common these days, the Reims corner is invented by Raymond Kopa who does not cross directly but plays the corner with two players. This two-man game allows the team to build the game more before crossing randomly like many teams did.

Stade de Reims did not win a National Cup that season but reached the final of the Coupe Latine after another 3-2 victory against AC Milan in the semi-final. Real Madrid won the final 2-0 thanks to a double from the twirling Argentinian winger: Hector Rial.

The 1955-56 season is undoubtedly one of the most legendary in the history of Stade de Reims, yet the season got off to a very bad start for them. The only departure was Prosdocimi's retirement. For arrivals, Jean Davanne, Martial Jacques, Robert Lamartine and Raoul Schollhammer. But the sauce does not take off despite a historic victory in the Champions Challenge 7 goals to 1 against LOSC. In the Coupe de France, the club was eliminated in the quarter.

But where the club disappoints is in the championship, from the 18th day, the club suffered 10 defeats and finished in 10th place in the championship, a real disappointment for one of the European leaders of the time.

However, this season is historic, in fact, Grand Reims is once again imperial in European competition in a new competition which has just been born, the Champions League. In this 1st edition, the French club will win its double-duel against AGF Aarhus, the reigning Danish champion 4-2 on aggregate, 3 goals from Glovacki.

In the next round, that is to say, the quarter-finals, the club, with a destructive offensive game, won a crazy double confrontation 8-6 in total, 3 goals from Bliard, 2 from Leblond and 2 from Glovacki in particular . In the semi-final, the club faced Hibernian and easily won 3-0 on aggregate, with Glovacki scoring the only goal of the match in the return leg in Scotland.

The final of this first edition is played in France, at the Parc des Princes in front of just over 38,000 spectators against the great Real Madrid. Leblond opened the scoring to everyone's surprise in the 6th minute before Templin scored the second goal of the match. Di Stéfano reduced the difference in the 14th minute and Rial equalized in the 30th, Real began to have the upper hand in the match but Reims did not crack, and upon returning from the locker room it was Hidalgo who scored the 3-2 goal. But Marquitos equalizes again, the mentality of the Rémois is damaged and the French team breaks down in the 79th minute with a new goal from Rial, a 4-3 victory for Real Madrid in a historic match.

The 1956-57 season heralded a new dynamic, the club could not prevent the departure of its jewel, Raymond Kopa, purchased for 1 million euros by Real Madrid. Jean Templin, the club's legendary winger, also leaves the reds to join the blood and gold of RC Lens and the last departure, not the least, is that of the goalkeeper who has had so much influence on the club's success: Paul Sinibaldi.

But the club did not admit defeat, and in revenge, it recruited Mohamed Maouche from AS Saint-Eugène, Jean Vincent from LOSC and a certain Just Fontaine, from OGC Nice. If the first will be a failure, only 5 small matches played during this season for 3 goals. The second will be a very good replacement for Jean Templin. And the third is the new rising star of French football despite a complicated previous individual season

With its new players, the club finished 3rd in Ligue 1, a nice return to the top of the table. Yet the club won nothing, worse it was eliminated in its first match in the Charles Drago Cup and in the round of 16 in the Coupe de France, one more failure in these competitions.

The 1957-58 season will be that of the triumphant return of Reims after 2 complicated seasons. Raymond Cicci, Léon Glovacki, Michel Hidalgo, Martial Jacques and Raoul Schollhammer are leaving the club, Reims needs change, it's done with this huge transfer window. Edmond Biernat, Dominique Colonna, Jean Desruisseaux, Guy Goutte, Bruno Rodzik, Claude Dubaële but especially Roger Piantoni join the club. Reims finally has a squad built to win titles with a certain depth of bench.

Roger Piantoni is one of the stars of the era of French football and the current holder of the left wing of the national team. With a huge stint at FC Nantes, he joined the Reims club in the shoes of a star. A fast and killer left winger in front of goal, he had a great first season in Reims with 23 goals in 38 games and he confirmed his status as the best winger in the championship.

But the best player of this Reims team is none other than Just Fontaine, having completed a 1956-57 exercise in 32 matches for 31 goals, he did even better, in total, he scored 39 goals in 32 matches with Reims and s establishes himself as one of the best center forwards in the world and in history. This was his best individual and collective season with a 3rd place in the World Cup where he scored 13 goals in 6 matches, a record which still stands.

With its fiery attack, Stade de Reims finally confirms its status as the best French club by finishing first in the championship, 7 points ahead of Nice. In total, there are 48 points, 22 wins, 4 draws and 8 defeats for 89 goals scored and 42 conceded.

In the Coupe de France, Reims finally won the trophy against Nimes Olympique with a score of 3-1, in total the club scored 25 goals in the competition in only 7 matches.

The following season was once again complicated, the players did not keep up the pace between the different competitions. This 1958-59 season, the club finished 4th in the championship, 8 points behind the champion, OGC Nice, which gradually stole the show at the Stade de Reims. Stade de Reims lost in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France and in its first match in the Charles Drago Cup and fell back into its old ways of not knowing how to win important matches.

However, the club is making another exceptional run in the Champions League. The Club, which first had a preliminary round to win, won 10-3 on aggregate against the reigning Northern Ireland champion, Ards FC.

During the 8th finals, same result, the Stade de Reims is resplendent and endears itself to its fiercely decisive offensive play. 7-0 aggregate victory against HPS Helsinki. The quarter-finals are much more complicated, the club faces the Belgian champion, Standard de Liège who win 2-0 in the first leg in Belgium, before Stade de Reims achieves the unthinkable by winning 3-0 in France.

During the semi-finals, the club faced Young Boys from Bern and quietly won 3-1 on aggregate. Just Fontaine then peaked at 10 goals in the competition, he was the best center forward in Europe.

In the final, it was again Real Madrid who faced Reims and this time the result was unanimous, an easy victory for Real Madrid 2-0. Reims once again fails at the gates of success.

Just Fontaine ends his season with 37 goals in 43 games with Reims, Roger Piantoni has 29 goals in 42 games and René Bliard has 13 goals in 37 games. Jean Vincent scores 15 goals in 49 matches. But one of the best players of this season and who is often forgotten is Robert Lamartine who ends his season as a right attacking midfielder with 12 goals in 44 games. Defensively Robert Jonquet is still the best player with 46 matches played at 34 years old. In cages, Dominique Colonna is having a good season with 12 clean sheets in 40 matches.

Subsequently, the club won the French championship twice again during the 1959-60 and 1961-62 seasons, but its golden age gradually began to fade, like Just Fontaine who must end his career following serious injuries. Piantoni also plays less, even if he remains effective in each of his matches. The only reason for satisfaction was the return of the club's child, Raymond Kopa in 1959 who carried the club again until 1968. The Stade de Reims gave chills to the supporters of France and Europe with its game focused on the front.