Raymond Kopa, the miner who became Alfredo Di Stéfano’s perfect partner

Nicolas Sarkozy had not yet turned one year as president of France. He still had the smile with which he had seduced so many voters and Carla Bruni. The same smile he offered at every event that – in those days – allowed him to sustain his popularity. That morning of 2008, at the Elysée, the residence of the Head of State, a tribute was held: Raymond Kopa -crack of the 50s, timeless crack- looked with alien eyes that celebration in which the center of the scene belonged to him.

The country for which he had offered goals, talent, skill, dribbling of the best and magic without forgetting was decorating him: to him it was the glitter of that Officer of the Legion of Honor medal. The son of Polish immigrants (Kopa is short for his birth name, Kopaszewski), that worker in the coal mines in his teenage days, he heard praise, reverence and anecdotes of his legendary journey. Almost as much as when in 1958 he was welcomed as a universal star for his remarkable participation in the World Cup in Sweden and for that Golden Ball he so deserved and won.

To pay homage was the then president of the French Football Association, Jean-Pierre Escalettes. He clapped until his hands broke. He remembered, like many his age, that youth in which almost everyone wanted to look like that football player of small size and huge game.

In every club he was in, he gave the same thing in exchange for the same: joy at the cheers. He was something of a 1950s Messi, with his beloved partner Alfredo Di Stéfano as the perfect companion. For four years he was on the podium as the best player in Europe, from 1956 to 1959. Once he was gold, one silver and two bronzes.

In those years he was already playing in the best Real Madrid possible, galactic times with earthly salaries. He has won two Spanish championships and three European Cups (the Champions League of our days).

The White House in Madrid officially places him among the legends of its success story, regardless of the colors he wore. And he defines it, even on his website: “His short dribbling and his footballing intelligence were his best virtues. If you add to all this his ability to play in different positions, always offensive, no one is surprised that Kopa has given Real Madrid impressive scoring ability.”.

that French splendor

But before and after his excursion to Spain he continued to be the figure of an institution that places him on the pedestal of his mythical life, the Stade de Reims. During his two cycles (the first, after the initial parenthesis with Angers, whose stadium now bears his name; the second, already in the 1960s) won four French championships.

His contribution to the French national team is represented by a nickname: after a match against Spain, the English journalist Desmond Hackett, for the minimum size and maximum influence of Kopa, baptized him as “The Napoleon of football”. And so he has been called ever since. In the 1958 World Cup, he played the best season with the French national team until he won the World Cup, which was played forty years later, at home. already with Zinedine Zidane as the most visible face. Later, closer in time, the consecration in Russia 2018 would come, with Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappé as figures.

They were ten years dressed in blue (from 1952 to 1962) in which he scored 18 goals in 45 games. In 2011, UEFA awarded Kopa its highest honorary honor, the President’s Award. Just Fontaine, his best teammate in the national team, added a few words to the occasion: “I want to congratulate Michel Platini for taking the initiative to honor one of our most glorious players, because Kopa is undeniably one of them.”. It wasn’t just a reference; but the one who – perhaps – knew him best.

When the football sky embraced Kopa, no one remembered that he had lost a finger working in the Pas-de-Calais mining area and that this accident ended up bringing him closer to sport. But in that recent UEFA tribute event, he recalled those days: “I have always played in categories above my age. When I was under 17 I was already playing in the third division with Noeux-les-Mines. The chief engineer of area three where I worked was also the president of the team, but he did not did anything to help me in my football career “. Raymond built himself.

On the occasion of the awarding of the Ballon d’Or in 2013, Kopa was interviewed at the presentation of the FIFA Gala. They asked him for a detail that did not go unnoticed: the confrontation with Messi. “There are similarities. We measured exactly the same and my strengths were dribbling, speed of execution and accuracy. It is an honor to be compared to him!”he expressed.

His talent was inexhaustible. Y environments, stages and transcended T-shirts. Also, over time. In August 1973, six years after his retirement, Fontaine – then coach of Paris Saint Germain – invited him to play a game for his team against a regional rival.

His performance was a surprise for everyone, even for the protagonist: he dribbled as if to deny his 42 years and scored three goals. That participation opened a door: they offered him to return to football. Hand. With the usual prudence he said that he had already offered everything he could offer. Everyone then realized that he was still an artist on the pitch. Also able to beat the almanac.

beyond the playing field

Life wasn’t just football, that life that seemed like a lot until his goodbye forever in 2017. He had other concerns. He had inherited them from the brave times of adolescence, from those days of bruised and hardened hands from hard work. Also from his father and grandfather, two workers from the mines of northern France. It included defending workers’ rights as natural. And as such he played the footballers of the time.

In the name of this he fought. Until the end of the 1960s, players belonged to clubs forever. The master and gentleman’s club; the owner’s perpetual club. He didn’t like that situation. It didn’t feel right. And together with Fontaine – also Fontaine – they made a decision that was a milestone and changed the way players and institutions connect: he founded the union of French professional players (currently known as the National Union of Professional Footballers, UNFP) and promoted the fixed-term contract among the first decisions. Off the pitch he also left his mark.

He has won medals, the most prestigious titles, decorations, cups of all kinds, special awards. In 2000, the French newspaper L’Equipe named him one of the three best French footballers of all time (the top 5 was completed by Platini, Zidane, Thierry Henry and Fontaine). In 2004, the highest footballing entity placed him in the FIFA 100 ranking.

Between those two awards there was news that has spread much less. Kopa -small immense- was selling part of his showcases of glory in the name of another mission: to collaborate in the fight against cancer. The pain of the death of his son – at the time of Real Madrid – had taught him in one fell swoop that sometimes trophies and praise are just that.