World Cup single-tournament record – Just Fontaine (13 goals, 1958)

Lore & Background

Born in Marrakesh, French Morocco, to a French father and a Spanish mother, Fontaine moved to Casablanca, where he attended the Lycée Lyautey. He began his amateur career at US Marocaine, playing from 1950 to 1953. Nice recruited him in 1953, and he scored 44 goals in three seasons. In 1956, he moved to Stade de Reims, where he teamed up with Raymond Kopa from the 1959–60 season.

Fontaine scored 121 goals in six seasons at Reims, totaling 165 goals in 200 Division 1 matches, winning the championship twice (1958 and 1960). He also took part in the 1958–59 European Cup final against Real Madrid, being that season's top scorer with ten goals. On his France debut on 17 December 1953, he scored a hat trick as France defeated Luxembourg 8–0. In seven years, he scored 30 goals in 21 matches.

In the 1958 World Cup, he scored 13 goals in six matches, including four against West Germany in the third place playoff. He is the seventh-top scorer in FIFA World Cup history, with each of the six ahead of him—Gerd Müller (14 goals), Harry Kane (14 goals), Ronaldo (15 goals), Miroslav Klose (16 goals), Lionel Messi (21 goals), and Kylian Mbappé (22 goals)—having played in at least two tournaments. Fontaine played his last match in July 1962, forced to retire early due to a recurring leg injury.

He briefly managed the France national team in 1967, replaced after two friendly defeats. As coach of Morocco, he led the Atlas Lions to a third place finish in the 1980 African Cup of Nations. As sporting director of Paris Saint-Germain, he helped promote the club to the first division. He was named by Pelé as one of the 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

He was chosen as the best French player of the last 60 years by the French Football Federation in the UEFA Jubilee Awards in November 2003. With Eugène N'Jo Léa he founded the National Union of Professional Football Players in 1961. He died in Toulouse on 28 February 2023 at the age of 89.

Reader's Guide

Fontaine's record of 13 goals in a single World Cup (1958) remains unmatched. He scored 30 goals in 21 international matches. At club level, he won Division 1 titles with Nice (1955–56) and Reims (1957–58, 1959–60, 1961–62), and the Coupe de France with Nice (1953–54) and Reims (1957–58). He was Division 1 top scorer in 1957–58 and 1959–60, European Cup top scorer in 1958–59, and finished third in the Ballon d'Or in 1958. He received the FIFA Order of Merit in 1994, the Golden Foot as a football legend in 2003, and was named to the FIFA 100 in 2004. He was a Knight (1984) and later Officer (2013) of the Legion of Honour.