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Lucien Laurent

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Lucien Laurent
Personal information
Full name Lucien Laurent
Date of birth (1907-12-10)10 December 1907
Place of birth Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, France
Date of death 11 April 2005(2005-04-11) (aged 97)
Place of death Besançon, France
Height 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Position(s) Inside right
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1921–1930 CA Paris
1930–1932 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard
1932–1933 Club Français 27 (10)
1933–1934 CA Paris 27 (12)
1934–1935 FC Mulhouse 33 (10)
1935–1936 FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 8 (2)
1936–1937 Rennes 33 (11)
1937–1939 Strasbourg 29 (4)
1939–1943 Toulouse FC
1943–1946 Besançon RC 1 (0)
International career
1930–1935 France 10 (2)
Managerial career
1943-1947 Besançon RC
1961 Besançon RC
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Lucien Laurent (10 December 1907 – 11 April 2005) was a French footballer who played as a forward. Playing for France, at the 1930 World Cup he scored the first ever FIFA World Cup goal against Mexico.

Career

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Laurent was born in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, Val-de-Marne, near Paris. He was the younger brother of Jean Laurent, who also played football and represented France and was named to the squad for the 1930 World Cup.[1] He was also part of France's squad for the 1928 Summer Olympics, but he did not play in any matches.[2]

Between 1921 and 1930, he played for the semi-professional team Cercle Athlétique de Paris, before being taken on by Sochaux, then a workers team for the car manufacturer Peugeot, where he was employed. As an amateur player, he only received basic compensation from the French Football Federation while at the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay.[1]

At the Estadio Pocitos in Montevideo, Laurent made history by scoring the first ever World Cup goal: a volley in the 19th minute of a game against Mexico on 13 July 1930.[3] France won the game 4–1, but lost their remaining group matches to Argentina and Chile, and were thus eliminated in the group stage. Laurent was ruled out of the third game due to an injury.[1]

Laurent was named to the French squad for the 1934 World Cup, but was unable to play due to an injury. He later moved to Rennes, playing for them until 1937, then for RC Strasbourg until 1939.[1] In all, Laurent played 10 times for France, but scored only one other goal against England in May 1931.[1]

He joined the French armed forces during World War II, but spent three years as a prisoner of war in Saxony before being released in 1943. He played two years of wartime football for Besançon before retiring in 1946, opting to become a trainer and youth coach. He was the only surviving member of the 1930 French team to see France lift the 1998 FIFA World Cup on home soil, and died seven years later at the age of 97 in Besançon.[1]

Career statistics

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List of international goals scored by Lucien Laurent

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France's goal tally first

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 13 July 1930 Estadio Pocitos, Montevideo, Uruguay  Mexico 1–0 4–1 1930 FIFA World Cup
2. 14 May 1931 Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes, France  England 1–1 5–2 Friendly

Honours

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CA Paris

FC Sochaux

  • Peugeot Cup: 1931

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Glanville, Brian (14 April 2005). "Obituary: Lucien Laurent". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  2. ^ "Lucien Laurent". Olympedia. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
  3. ^ Molinaro, John F. (13 November 2009). "The World Cup's 1st goal scorer". CBC Sports. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
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