Paul Nicolas


Paul Nicolas was a French footballer who played as a striker. He was part of the France national football teams at the 1920, 1924, and 1928 Summer Olympics.
He was also part of the France national football team selection committee.

Club career

Paul Nicolas lost his mother at the age of 3, and then his father in 1914. He was raised by his mother-in-law together with his brother Henri. He began his football career with Saint-Mandé Club in 1916. Initially, he played as a defender, but he quickly realized that his destiny laid at the forefront since he scored many goals. In addition to his goal-scoring instinct, Nicolas also stood out for his strong character on the pitch, and these two qualities combined eventually drew the attention of Mr. Fort, the then president of the Gallia Club, who signed him as a centre-forward in 1916.
At the time, center-forwards usually were corpulent, aggressive and impetuous players, but Nicolas revolutionized the way of playing as a forward striker, imposing his talent, his skill with both feet, and intuition to position himself in the right place, thus being described as a "precursor and prototype of the modern striker, scorer at heart but just as altruistic in the last gesture".
Paul Nicolas joined the army around the end of World War I, thus leaving for Paris. On 5 March 1919, while he was in the army, he met on the station platform a former brilliant captain of Red Star F.C.: Lucien Gamblin, who convinced him to join him at Red Star given his reputation as a skillful centre-forward. Nicolas proved to be a great recruitment as he went on to play a pivotal role in helping the club win the Coupe de France four times, including three in a row between 1921 and 1923, scoring once in the 1922 final to help his side to a 2–0 victory over Rennais. He helped the club win its fourth Coupe in 1928.
In 1929, Paul Nicolas left Red Star for family reasons and moved to Amiens where he opened a grocery store, which is why he joined Amiens SC, with whom he played for six years before ending his career in 1935, in the round of 16 of the 1934–35 Coupe de France, in which Amiens was eliminated by Red Star after a playoff match.

International career

He played in 44 matches for the France national team between 1920 and 1921, scoring a then national record of 20 goals. He participated in the football tournaments of three Olympic games, scoring a total of four goals in five games, including one against Uruguay, which was the best team at the time. Despite his great performances at the Olympics, the 31-year-old Paul Nicolas failed to participate in the inaugural tournament of the World Cup in 1930 to end his magnificent international career on a high.
This tally includes two hat-tricks, one in a 4–1 win over Yugoslavia on 13 June 1926, and the other to help his side to a 4–0 win over Northern Ireland on 21 February 1928.
In 1919, Nicolas took part in the Inter-Allied Games in Paris, a large sports competition organized in celebration of the Allied victory in World War I, since he was a member of the military. However, the matches of the tournament are not included in the official FIFA register. Together with the likes of Lucien Gamblin and Albert Rénier, he helped France win Group A with two goals against Romania, a poker against Greece and a decisive goal against Greece. However, he failed to score in the final as they were beaten 2–3 by Czechoslovakia.

Retirement

A football lover, he could not bring himself to leave the world of football. Endowed with a strong personality, he joined the selection committee of the France national team in August 1949. He stayed there until December 1953, when, following the double disappearance of Emmanuel Gambardella and Georges Bayrou, he was appointed president of the Groupement des clubs authorized — he would remain in this position until June 1956. He returns to the selection in September 1954 as "director of the France team", contributing to the team's third-place finish at the 1958 FIFA World Cup.
On his return from a disputed France-Belgium match in 1959 in Colombes, Paul Nicolas was the victim of a terrible car accident that cost him his life. His tragic death shook French football. Half a century later, his memory is still alive.

International goals

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
118 January 1920Velodromo Sempione, Milan, Italy1–34–9Friendly
229 February 1920Parc des Sports, Geneva, Switzerland2–02–0Friendly
328 March 1920Parc des Princes, Paris, France1–12–1Friendly
428 March 1920Parc des Princes, Paris, France2–12–1Friendly
529 August 1920Olympisch Stadion, Antwerp, Belgium2–03–11920 Summer Olympics Quarter-finals
622 April 1923Stade Pershing, Paris, France2–22–2Friendly
727 May 1924Stade Bauer, Saint-Ouen, France2–07–01924 Summer Olympics Round of 16
827 May 1924Stade Bauer, Saint-Ouen, France4–07–01924 Summer Olympics Round of 16
91 June 1924Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes, France1–11–51924 Summer Olympics Quarter-finals
1025 April 1926Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes, France1–01–0Friendly
1113 June 1926Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes, France2–04–1Friendly
1213 June 1926Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes, France3–14–1Friendly
1313 June 1926Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes, France4–14–1Friendly
1421 February 1928Stade Buffalo, Montrouge, France1–04–0Friendly
1521 February 1928Stade Buffalo, Montrouge, France2–04–0Friendly
1621 February 1928Stade Buffalo, Montrouge, France3–04–0Friendly
1711 March 1928Stade olympique de la Pontaise, Lausanne, Switzerland3–43–4Friendly
1829 April 1928Parc des Princes, Paris, France1–11–1Friendly
1924 February 1929Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes, France2–03–0Friendly
2024 March 1929Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes, France1–02–0Friendly

Honours

Red Star Olympique
France