Robert Jonquet

1946–1956

During his youth, Jonquet played in the surrounding countryside of southern Paris in Châtenay-Malabry, and afterwards for the Société Sportive Voltaire. In 1946–47, he played his first season at Reims in the division 1. He became a first-team player, and in the spring 1947, he was called up for the first time to the France national team. Jonquet was relatively short (1.76 m) for his playing position, but as a libero, played with elegance and talent in the number 5 shirt, rather than in the mould of a typical centre-back "destroyer". In the 1948–49 season he won his first French championship, 1950 the Coupe de France, followed in 1953 by his second French championship and the Latin Cup. In the year after he participated with Les Bleus in its first World Cup finals in Switzerland; in 1955 he won the French championship again, the French Supercup, was finalist in the Latin Cup and the following year (1956) reached with Reims the final of the newly born European Cup, losing to Real Madrid 4–3. Two further high points of these years took place on international fields: in October 1951 with France he played in London against England (which included Alf Ramsey and Billy Wright). Jonquet's superb game helped France obtain a 2–2 draw, and on the next morning a newspaper headline referred to him as "The Hero of Highbury". The "hero" also played in a European selection which defeated England in a friendly match in 1955.

A main player in one of the best teams of…

At RC Strasbourg, Jonquet moved from the playing field to the coaching sidelines, enjoying a spell with Reims and afterwards with a small teams, Romilly-sur-Seine, Épernay and Châlons-sur-Marne. He was very disappointed with the rise of money in football, missing his time at Stade de Reims. He died on 17 December 2008 in Reims, Marne. His club Reims gave his name to a stand of their stadium Auguste Delaune.

Robert Henri Jonquet was born on 3 May 1925 in the 14th arrondissement of Paris.

Reims

Division 1: 1948–49, 1952–53, 1954–55, 1957–58, 1959–60; runner-up: 1946–47, 1953–54 Coupe de France: 1949–50, 1957–58 Trophée des Champions: 1955, 1958, 1960 Latin Cup: 1953; runner-up: 1955 European Cup runner-up: 1955–56, 1958–59