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Gabriel Hanot (French pronunciation: [ɡabʁijɛl ano]; 6 November 1889 – 10 August 1968) was a French footballer, coach and journalist.[1][2]
 Hanot in 1910 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 6 November 1889 | ||
| Place of birth | Arras, France | ||
| Date of death | 10 August 1968 (aged 78) | ||
| Place of death | Wangenbourg-Engenthal, France | ||
| Position(s) | Defender, Winger | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1906-1910 | US Tourcoing | ||
| 1910-1912 | Preußen Münster | ||
| 1912-1915 | US Tourcoing | ||
| 1916-1919 | AS Francilienne | ||
| International career | |||
| 1908–1919 | France | 12 | (3) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1945–1949 | France (coach under a committee) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
After a playing career which included 12 caps for the France national team, Hanot became a journalist and football administrator, also leading the France national team between 1945-49.[3][4] His main achievements in football are the 1932 introduction of professionalism to French football; formulating the idea to create a European Cup (which has since become the UEFA Champions League); and the launching of the Ballon d'Or.
Playing career
editHanot was born in Arras on 6 November 1889, and was introduced to football whilst at lycée in nearby Tourcoing.[5] Discovering a talent for the sport, Hanot played for local side US Tourcoing, with whom he won a USFSA French title in 1910,[6] and was selected at the age of 18 for the first time for the France national team, making a total of four appearances for the French national team in 1908 as a left winger.[1][2] He was also included in France's squad for the football tournament at the 1908 Summer Olympics, but he did not play in any matches.[7]
Hanot was not selected for France at all the following two years, and in 1910 headed to Münster[note 1] to study at university, where he continued playing football for local side Preußen Münster.[2][4] He returned to Tourcoing and France in 1912, where he won a Challenge International du Nord with US Tourcoing in 1913, and earned seven more caps for France, now playing as a full-back.[1][2]
Hanot's footballing career was interrupted by World War I, during which he enlisted in the French army as a pilot. He was shot down and taken prisoner by the German army on three separate occasions, but managed to escape each time.[5]
After the war, he played one more time for France, as captain against Belgium on 9 March 1919,[4] before his playing career was ended by a serious knee injury suffered during an aviation accident.[5] In total, Hanot made 12 appearances for France, scoring three times.[1]
Post-playing career
editFollowing an aviation accident in 1919, Hanot gave up football and became a journalist, initially for sporting publication Miroir des sports, for whom he covered golf and cycling, amongst other sports, before turning his focus directly back to football with L'Équipe.[5]
In 1930, Hanot, alongside Marcel Rossini, pioneered the Concours du jeune footballeur, a series of tests for young players done before the kick-off of the final of the Coupe de France, which would help uncover talents such as Raymond Kopa, Jean-Michel Larqué and Christian Sarramagna.[4] He is also credited with introducing professionalism to French football in France, in 1932, helping form what is now Ligue 1.[2]
In December 1934, Hanot used the Miroir des sports, whom he was by this point the director of, to put forth the idea of a European cup contested between club teams, inspired by the recent dramatic growth of aviation.[8] He would eventually return to this idea after the end of World War II, now alongside L'Équipe colleague Jacques Ferran, relaunching the concept in late 1954,[9] and finally seeing the competition fully take shape in 1955 as the European Cup, now known as the UEFA Champions League.[10]
From 1945 to 1949, Hanot coached the France national team,[3] including at the football tournament of the 1948 Summer Olympics in London,[7] in which France beat India in the first round, before losing to Great Britain in the quarter-finals.[11] His tenure as national team manager came to an end when he anonymously called for his own resignation in June 1949 following a humiliating 1-5 loss to Spain, which he swiftly obliged.[4]
In 1947, Hanot cofounded the Amicale des Educateurs de football, an association intended to promote and support football coaching, part of which involved in the introduction of coaching courses.[12]
In 1956, through his magazine France Football, Hanot created the Ballon d'Or award, a yearly award for the greatest male European footballer, voted for by journalists from across Europe.[13][14] In 2007, the award was expanded to include footballers from throughout the entire world, and in 2018, the Ballon d'Or Féminin was launched to celebrate the greatest female footballer of the year.
Hanot died on the 10 August 1968 at the age of 78 in Wangenbourg-Engenthal.[1][2]
Legacy
editDespite being pivotal to many key innovations and creations within the game of football, Hanot has become a largely forgotten figure over time,[2][5] lacking any statues or monuments to remember his achievements.[4] However, his creations remain central within the world of football and sport generally: the UEFA Champions League, inspired by Hanot's ideas,[9][10] is the most-watched club competition in the world, as well as one of the most prestigious football tournaments, and the Ballon d'Or remains one of the most sought-after awards in the world of football.[15]
Honours
editUS Tourcoing
- USFSA French Championship: 1910
- Challenge International du Nord: 1913
Notes
edit- ^ There is some doubt regarding whether Hanot studied in Münster or in Berlin, though this appears to be a mistake that originates from the name of Münster's local football team: Preußen (Prussia, in English). This name would generally point to Berlin and eastern Germany in general, but is in fact also the name chosen by Münster's team, and thus appears to have led to a misconception among many sources that Hanot studied in Berlin.
References
edit- ^ a b c d e "Gabriel HANOT". fff.fr (Official website of the French Football Federation) (in French). Retrieved 1 October 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c d e f g Duluc, Vincent (4 April 2025). "L'intransigeant Gabriel Hanot de « L'Équipe », à l'origine de tout, oublié de tous". L'Équipe (in French). Retrieved 1 October 2025.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "Gabriel HANOT (profil sélectionneur)". fff.fr (Official website of the French Football Federation) (in French). Retrieved 1 October 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c d e f Auclair, Philippe (30 June 2015). "Gabriel Hanot: the France coach who called for his own head". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c d e Krall, Malaurie (20 July 2022). "Son grand-père a participé à créer la Ligue des champions : il se bat pour qu'il soit reconnu". Ouest-France (in French). Retrieved 1 October 2025.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "France 1892-1919". rsssf.org. Retrieved 1 October 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "Gabriel Hanot". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 24 May 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
- ^ "Échanges internationaux". Le Miroir des sports (in French). 11 December 1934. p. 507. Retrieved 4 October 2025.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "Chapeau bas M. Hanot". uefa.com (Official website of UEFA) (in French). Archived from the original on 17 February 2011.
- ^ a b "History". uefa.com (Official website of UEFA). Archived from the original on 15 February 2010.
- ^ "Londres 1948, sous l'empire britannique". fff.fr (Official website of the French Football Federation) (in French). 15 July 2024. Retrieved 4 October 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Présentation". aefoot.com (in French). Retrieved 4 October 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "28 September 2007". UEFA.com (Official website of UEFA) (in French). Archived from the original on 26 May 2011.
- ^ "The FIFA Ballon d'Or is born". fifa.com (Official website of FIFA). 5 July 2016. Archived from the original on 12 December 2010.
- ^ "Ballon d'Or laureates: Who has won football's most prestigious award?". UEFA.com (Official website of UEFA). 22 September 2025. Retrieved 4 October 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)