René Petit

Madrid FC

Petit began practicing football at the Colegio del Pilar, one of the city's football cradles, where he stood out as a centre-forward. From there he joined Madrid FC's youth teams in 1914 together with his brother Juan. The Petits had their names Castilianized and were known in Spain as Juan and Renato. The Petit brothers made themselves noticed during the 1914–15 season, and despite René's early age, he also earned himself a spot on the first team, making his debut for Madrid alongside Juan in a Central Regional Championship match against Sociedad Gimnástica on 15 November 1914, scoring his side's only goal in a 1–3 loss, and in doing so at the age of 15 years and 37 days, Petit became the youngest-ever scorer in the history of Real Madrid. In the very next match on 29 November, the Petits scored all three in Madrid's 3–2 victory over Atlético Madrid, two from René and one from Juan. The play that the Petits offered Real Madrid allowed the Whites to take a huge leap in quality, and as a result, Real Madrid was once again fighting for all the titles in play. Petit quickly became one of the club's benchmarks and stars at the time. He soon evolved from his position of forward to midfielder, which he no longer gave up until the end of his career. It was from the midfield that he contributed extraordinarily to the success of Real Madrid, which was proclaimed Champion of the Central Regional in 1916 and Champion of Spain in 1917. He played for Real Madrid from…

Madrid

Being an Madrid FC player, he was eligible to play for the Madrid national team, being in the line-up of the team's first-ever international match on 10 May 1915 against Catalonia, which was held at the Campo de O'Donnell for the 1915 Prince of Asturias Cup, the first edition of the Prince of Asturias Cup, and although they lost 1–2, Petit scored the consolation goal, thus being the author of the first goal in the history of the team. In the decisive game, Petit, who always felt Basque, played against Basque Country, missing a penalty in an eventual 1–1 draw that was enough for the Basques to win the cup. The harshness with which the Prince of Asturias Cup was played in 1915 was not an obstacle for Petit, who had not yet turned 16, and by scoring a goal on 10 May 1915, at the age of 15 years and 212 days, he became the youngest goalscorer in the history of the competition as well as one of the youngest to ever score for a national team of any kind.

Unofficial matches with France and Spain

In the summer of 1919, Petit, who was in France performing his mandatory military service, decided to play for the French team in the Inter-Allied Games in Paris, a large sports competition organized in celebration of the Allied victory in World War I, as a way of honoring his brother, who fought in the war. However, the matches of this tournament are not considered official by FIFA. In the summer of 1920, when he returned to Irún to rejoin his beloved Real Unión,…

Despite his high-scoring performance throughout his career, Petit never considered himself a striker, but a player who provided passing and support. He could play center forward, but most of his career he played as a midfielder. Petit is considered one of the most complete players in the history of Spanish football, because, due to his physical power, he could play forward, midfielder or defender; although he always preferred to play in the midfield. Real Madrid's website describes him as "the total footballer. Physically outstanding, he was, more importantly, endowed with exquisite skills. His elegance and vision of play made him an idol to Madrid's fans". Spanish footballer, coach, and journalist Pedro Escartín even compared him with Di Stéfano, and indeed, those who were lucky enough to see him play say that he was the Di Stéfano of the 1920s. Many consider that Petit modernized Spanish football by establishing passing and team play against the previously existing anarchy; he is thus considered the first player of the modern era because of his ability to interpret the game. Petit was one of the players who contributed the most to developing football fans in Spain, due to his beautiful short and mathematical passing style.

René Petit was born in Dax, France, by pure chance, since his pregnant mother, a Spaniard born in Madrid, had traveled to that town just for treatments at its thermal waters; she was in a spa taking hot springs when the waters broke. His father was a French engineer who was a high official of the Company of Railways in Northern Spain, holding the post of head of traffic. Petit lived a good part of his life on the border between Spain and France, more specifically in the Basque Country, hence his status as a Basque-French, growing up between the towns of Irun and Hondarribia, with the former town being the terminus of the Spanish rail network in which his father was stationed. Despite being raised in the Basque Country, Petit had a thorough education of the French type. When he turned 12, his entire family moved to live in Madrid, where his father's company had its headquarters. There he attended high school at the prestigious Colegio de Nuestra Señora del Pilar.