When the words “1958 World Cup” pop into conversation, the minds of most typically latch onto one name: Pelé.
It was his coming out party and he deserves every bit of praise he receives, leading Brazil to its first title as a 17 year old burgeoning legend. Yet lurking in the not-so-distant background is a man whose tournament was no less impressive, and still stands today as the single most statistically bountiful World Cup in history: France’s Just Fontaine.
At 21 he hadn’t made the French squad for 1954 in Sweden, despite already having been capped, but in 1958 he took Sweden by storm. It was to be his first and only World Cup, but in those six games he filled the storybooks with enough legend for ten World Cups.
Words can hardly tell the story told by FIFA’s list of all-time World Cup goalscorers:
1. Ronaldo (Brazil) – 15
2. Gerd Muller (Germany) – 14
3. Just Fontaine (France) – 13
4. Pele (Brazil) – 12
5. Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany) – 11
Sandor Kocsis (Hungary) – 11
One tournament, third most prolific ever. Ronaldo & Pele achieved their totals in four tournaments, while Gerd Muller did so in two (scoring ten in 1966). Only Sandor Kocsis can claim to approach Just’s shooting star status with 11 in his lone World Cup, of 1954. Fontaine also did so in six games, scoring in each one, becoming only one of three players to earn that trophy (Alcides Ghiggia scored 4 in 4 in 1950 & Jairzinho 7 in 6 in 1970). And even more, he’s one of only four players to score two World Cup hat tricks, along with Kocsis, Muller & Gabriel Batistuta.
The man is simply a statistician’s dream – even more so when you consider his France totals read 30 goals in 21 games. Simply an astounding goal scorer, one whose career was sadly cut short by injury in 1960.
The tournament itself was a brilliant one for France, having placed no higher than sixth previously – in 1938, when they hosted – they managed to make the semifinals through the partnership of Fontaine and Raymond Kopa, where they met up with a Brazil side towing a young player who was then a mere talent. Les Bleus were doomed by Pele, but in retrospect, it’s hardly the end of the world losing to the arrival of the game’s greatest ever player. Fontaine even scored in the game – keeping his goal-scoring streak alive at 3, 2, 1, 2, 1 – but it was Pele’s hat trick which took the headlines, and ultimately the game.
That loss set up Just’s greatest game, and one of the greatest individual games in World Cup history: the third-placed playoff against defending champions West Germany.
By the time the game was over, Fontaine had scored four goals and cemented himself as the most prolific single-tournament scorer in the competition’s young history, not to mention a genuine World Cup legend. Fifty years later, no one has come close to touching his record and there’s no reason to think anyone will come close, even with the extra game, in the next fifty years.
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