Raymond Kopa: first Frenchman to win the Ballon d’Or

Raymond Kopa was a France forward and attacking midfielder. In 1958 he became the first French player to win the Ballon d’Or. He won three consecutive European Cups with Real Madrid. He was also a key member of the France side that finished third at the 1958 World Cup². He scored 18 goals in 45 matches for France¹. The Spanish newspaper Marca, impressed by his play, called him the “little Napoleon”³.

Early life and beginnings

Kopa’s real name was Raymond Kopaszewski. He was born on 13 October 1931 in Nœux-les-Mines, a town in northern France, to Polish immigrant parents. He learnt football at a local club and began his professional career with Angers in 1949¹³.

Club career

In 1951 Kopa joined Stade de Reims, where he spent most of his career¹. Reims were the strongest side in France at the time and became French champions in 1953 and 1955. In 1956 Reims faced Real Madrid in the first final of the newly launched European Cup. Real Madrid won 4-3³.

That same year Kopa himself moved to Real Madrid, where Alfredo Di Stefano was his team-mate. Over the next three years Real Madrid won three consecutive European Cups (1957, 1958, 1959). Interestingly, Real won the 1959 final by beating Kopa’s former club Reims¹². According to Real Madrid, he scored 30 goals in 103 matches for the club and also won two Spanish league titles³⁴.

In 1959 he returned to Reims and played there until 1967. During this time Reims again became French champions, in 1960 and 1962¹³.

International career

Kopa played his first match for France in 1952. The 1958 World Cup was held in Sweden. At that tournament Just Fontaine, Kopa’s fellow Reims striker, scored 13 goals, which remains the record for most goals in a single World Cup⁵. In the semi-final France met Brazil, who had the 17-year-old Pele in their side. Brazil won 5-2². France then finished third³.

The same year Kopa won the Ballon d’Or. He had finished third in 1956 and 1957, and came second in 1959². The award had been given by the French magazine France Football since 1956 to the best player in Europe. In the first two years it went to England’s Stanley Matthews and to Kopa’s Real Madrid team-mate Di Stefano. Kopa thus became the first Frenchman to win his own country’s magazine award. Michel Platini, Jean-Pierre Papin, Zinedine Zidane and Karim Benzema won it after him⁶. His last international match was in 1962³.

Style of play

Kopa was small in stature but had exceptional control of the ball. He used dribbling to pull defences out of shape and create space for team-mates. He played both as a forward and as an attacking midfielder³. Football Espana has called him Real Madrid’s “playmaker”, meaning a player who organises attacks¹.

Statistics

The figures for Angers and Reims cover league matches only (Wikipedia), as no complete record of French Cup matches from the 1950s is available. The Real Madrid figures cover all official matches for the club, according to the club’s own website. The France figures are from Football Espana and AFP. The figures were compiled on 20 October 2026¹³⁴.

Honours

• Ballon d’Or: 1958 [1][2]
• European Cup: 1957, 1958, 1959 (Real Madrid) [1][2]
• Spanish league: 1957, 1958 [3]
• French league: four times (Reims: 1953, 1955, 1960, 1962) [3]
• FIFA World Cup: third place in 1958 [2][3]

Legacy

Kopa died on 3 March 2017 at the age of 85. The president of the French Football Federation said it was “a huge loss for French football”¹. Since 2018 the Kopa Trophy, named after him, has been given at the Ballon d’Or ceremony to the world’s best young player³. By a curious coincidence, the trophy was first won by another French forward, Kylian Mbappé, who is number 41 in the same list⁷. Kopa’s journey from the son of Polish immigrants to Europe’s best player is an important chapter in the history of French football. Real Madrid still remember him every year on the anniversary of his death⁴.