Series looking at the new foreign player
signings in the French League in the 1980s and 1990s and their impact.
The 1981/82 French season
included many foreign newcomers, enough to make up nearly two teams.
The majority of the
newcomers came from Yugoslavia, who were on the verge of qualifying to the 1982
World Cup in Spain in impressive fashion.
The ambitious Bordeaux of
President Claude Bez recruited Radnicki Nis’ penalty scoring goalkeeper Dragan
Pantelic.
Nantes signed Velez
Mostar striker, the Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic.
Stade Brestois signed the
1980/81 top goalscorer in Yugoslavia, Milan Radovic of NK Rijeka.
Lille signed Red Star
Belgrade defender Slavoljub Muslin. Olympique
Lyonnais signed OFK Belgrade goalkeeper Slobodan Topalovic.
Metz made a
double signing of Croatian defender Branko Tucak of Dinamo Zagreb and striker Božidar
‘Božo’ Janković from English side Middlesbrough.
OGC Nice
welcomed Bosnian midfielder Edhem Slivjo. Paris St. Germain signed Croatian
midfielder Ivan ‘Ivica’ Surjak from Hajduk Split.
Sochaux
also shopped at Hajduk Split and registered Croatian defender Sime Luketin.
Other new foreign
player arrivals that season included Swiss striker Raimondo
Ponte joining Bastia from English side Nottingham Forest.
Icelandic midfielder Karl
Eduard Thordarsson joined Laval from Belgian side R.A.A. La Louvieroise.
Icelandic striker Teitur
Thordrasson joined RC Lens from Swedish side Osters IF.
Turkish midfielder Engin
Verel joined Lille from Belgian side Anderlecht.
Veteran Swedish striker Ralf Sigvard Edström joined AS Monaco from
Belgian side Standard Liege.
Danish striker Jørgen ‘Benny’ Nielsen arrived at St.
Etienne from Belgian side Anderlecht.
Strasbourg signed Danish midfielder
Carsten Nielsen from West German side Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Valenciennes signed the
Polish duo of midfielder Eugeniusz Kazimierz Nagiel (from Szombierski Bytom) and striker Wojciech Tyc (from Odra Opole).
26-year-old Swiss striker
Raimondo Ponte had played for Aarau and Grasshoppers Zurich. He arrived at
Bastia after a season at Nottingham Forest.
He would
remain at Bastia for a single season before returning to Switzerland and
Grasshoppers to see out his career in 1988.
Photo From: Panini France
1981-82
|
(Raimondo Ponte) |
Yugoslav goalkeeper
Dragan Pantelic was nearly 30 years old when he joined Bordeaux from Radnicki
Nis. His solitary season would be controversial. He would be suspended near the
end of the season. As a protest, Bordeaux President Claude Bez forced
midfielder Captain Alain Giresse to play in midfield with Pantelic’s goalkeeper
kit in a match vs. Nantes that Bordeaux played without a goalkeeper (0-6 loss).
His top-level career was
more or less over after this. He played at Timok for one season and then saw
out his career with Radbicki Nis (1984/85).
He passed away on October
20, 2021.
Photo From: Panini France
1981-82
|
(Dragan Pantelic) |
Milan Radovic made his
name during his spell at NK Rijeka after starting out at Radnicki Pirot. He
joined Stade Brestois aged 29, joining Yugoslav compatriot Drago Vabec. He
remained with the club for three seasons and helped maintain the club in the
First Division. His first season was his most prolific in goals and appearances,
but slowed down in the following seasons and barely featured and retired in
1984.
 |
Photo From: Panini France
1981-82
|
(Milan Radovic) |
26-year-old Icelandic midfielder Karl Eduard Thordarsson made his debut with
IA before joining Belgian side La Louviere in 1978. He joined Laval in 1981 and
would remain there for three seasons. He would help the side achieve UEFA Cup
qualification in 1983.
He left Laval in 1984 and returned to IA to
see out his career into the next decade.
Photo From: Panini France
1981-82
|
(Karl Eduard Thordarsson) |
29-year-old Icelandic striker Teitur Thordarsson started out at IA before
playing in the Swedish League with Jonkoping and Osters. He joined RC Lens in
1981 and had two solid seasons and helped the club achieve UEFA Cup
qualification in 1983. After that season, he left to join Cannes in the Second
Division. He left French Football in 1984 and joined Swiss side Yverdon, before drifting
back into the Swedish League with Osters and Skövde and retired in 1987. He
later had a long managerial career.
Photo From: Panini France
1981-82
|
(Teitur Thordarsson) |
28-year-old Yugoslav defender Slavoljub Muslin had just won the Yugoslavia League title with
Red Star Belgrade, when he joined Lille in 1981.
He would remain in France for the rest of his
career. After two seasons with Lille, he joined Brest in 1983 and stayed three
more years. He would have one final season in France with Caen in Second
Division (1986/87) before retiring.
He would go on to have a long managerial
career and managed the likes of Brest, Pau, Bordeaux, RC Lens, Le Mans in
France. He would also manage Red Star Belgrade and the Serbian National Team
among others.
Photo From: Panini France
1981-82
(Slavoljub Muslin)
Turkish midfielder Engin
Ramiz Verel was nearly 25 years old when he joined Lille in 1981.
He had
played for the likes of Galatasaray and Fenerbahce before joining West German
side Hertha Berlin, and then joining Belgian side Anderlecht in 1980. After one
season, where he hardly featured, he joined Lille. He remained at the club for
two seasons before joining Fenerbahce for the last years of his career.
Photo From: Panini France
1981-82
|
(Engin Verel) |
28-year-old Yugoslav goalkeeper Slobodan Topalović had spells in West Germany with FC Koln
and Viktoria Koln. He joined Olympique Lyonnais from OFK Belgrade in 1981.
He
would remain with the club for the rest of his career (mostly in the Second
Division) before retiring in 1987.
He
passed away in May 1994.
Photo From: Panini France
1981-82
|
(Slobodan Topalovic) |
29-year-old Yugoslav defender Branko Tucak had played for NK Zagreb and Dinamo Zagreb,
before joining Metz in 1981.
He
would remain in French Football for many years. After two seasons with Metz, he
joined Nancy in 1983. After a single season, he joined Angers in the Second
Division.
He
joined Belgian side Kortrijk in 1985, but after a season he joined French lower
Division side Thionville (1986/87) for his final season before retiring.
Photo From: Panini France
1981-82
|
(Branko Tucak) |
Metz
also signed 30-year-old Yugoslav striker Božidar ‘Božo’ Janković from
English side Middlesbrough. He had been in England for two years after having
made his debut at Zeljeznicar. He lasted only one season at Metz before
returning to his formative club Zeljeznicar and retiring after one last season.
He passed away on October 1st,
1993, aged just 42.
Photo From: Panini France
1981-82
|
(Bozidar Jankovic) |
28-year-old Swedish striker Ralf
Sigvard Edström was one of Sweden’s stars during the 1974 World Cup. He
had made his debut at Degerfors and later at Atvidabergs in Sweden, before
joining Dutch side PSV Eindhoven, where he won the League title twice. He
returned to Sweden to IFK Gothenburg and then moved abroad again joining
Belgian side Standard Liege in 1979.
Monaco
signed him in 1981, and he won the French League title in his first season. He
remained one more season at the club before returning home to Orgryte in 1983.
However,
due to injuries he was unable to make any appearances and he retired in 1985.
Photo From: Panini France
1981-82
|
(Ralf Sigvard Edström) |
Nantes signed the 28-year-old Yugoslav
International striker Vahid Halilhodzic from Velez Mostar, where he had made
his debut a decade ago.
His first season would be disappointing as he
struggled to get used to the Nantes System. He was in impressive from his
second season onwards, and Nantes became League Champions with Halilhodzic as
Top Goalscorer of the League. Nantes with Halilhodzic would finish second twice
(1985, 1986). He would once again be the League’s Top Goalscorer in 1985. He
left Nantes in 1986 to join Paris St. Germain for one last season (1986-87)
before retiring.
He later had a long managerial career and
managed in France, the likes of Lille, Rennes, Paris St. Germain and Nantes. He
also managed many Nations, most recently Morocco.
Photo From: Panini France
1981-82
|
(Vahid Halilhodzic) |
31-year-old Yugoslav midfielder Edhem Slivjo made his name at FK Sarajevo before joining Belgian side FC
Liege in 1978.
After three seasons, OGC Nice signed him in 1981. After one
season, he was signed by West German side FC Koln. He stayed in Germany for two
seasons before returning to Belgian club FC Liege. He remained with the club
until 1987 before retiring.
Photo From: Panini France
1981-82
|
(Edhem Slivjo) |
28-year-old Yugoslav midfielder Ivan ‘Ivica’
Surjak represented Hajduk Split for a decade.
Paris St. Germain signed him in 1981, but he only stayed one
season. He then joined Italian side Udinese for one season. After a season of
inactivity, he played one last season in Spain at Real Zaragoza (1984/85)
before retiring.
Photo From: Panini France
1981-82
|
(Ivan ‘Ivica’ Surjak) |
30-year-old Danish striker Jørgen ‘Benny’ Nielsen started
out at AB before transferring to the Belgian League and lining up for the likes
of Cercle Brugge, RWDM Molenbeek and Anderlecht.
After a decade in the Belgian League, he signed for St.
Etienne in 1981. It would be his last season as a Footballer, and he retired at
the end of the season.
Photo From: Panini France
1981-82
|
(Jørgen ‘Benny’ Nielsen) |
Yugoslav defender Sime
Luketin was nearly 28 years old, when he joined Sochaux in 1981.
He had made his debut
with Hajduk Split. He would remain at Sochaux for two seasons before retiring
in 1983.
Photo From: Panini France
1981-82
|
(Sime Luketin) |
26-year-old Danish midfielder Carsten Nielsen started
out at B 1903 before joining Borussia Moenchengladbach in the West German
Bundesliga in 1976.
After five seasons there, Strasbourg signed him in 1981. He
would remain with the club for four seasons until 1985.
He then drifted into the Swiss League and played for
Neuchatel Xamax (1985/86, 1987-1989) and CS Chênois (1986/87) before returning
home to KB and retiring in 1990.
Photo From: Panini France
1981-82
|
(Carsten Nielsen) |
30-year-old Polish midfielder Eugeniusz Kazimierz Nagiel played for Szombierski Bytom until 1981, when he was signed
by Valenciennes.
He played for one season before drifting into the French lower
Leagues and playing for US Nœux-les-Mines (1982/83) and SC Hazebrouck
(1983-1985) before retiring.
Photo From: Panini France
1981-82
|
(Eugeniusz Kazimierz Nagiel) |
Valenciennes also signed
31-year-old Polish striker Wojciech Tyc in 1981 from Odra Opole. Just like
Nagiel, he only played one season at Valenciennes, before drifting into the
French lower Leagues and playing for Amiens (1982/83) before retiring.
From this group of 1981/82,
Vahid Halilhodzic was the most successful for his goalscoring record and
longevity later as Manager.
On a smaller scale, Ralf
Sigvard Edström helped in AS Monaco’s League
title win in 1982.
The Dragan Pantelic
situation was unique, and without his suspension, he surely would have spent
more time at Bordeaux.
There were no stand-outs
as most players had short spells in French Football. Most of the players were
on the last stages of their career when they joined the French League.
As far as the Yugoslav
contingent that was understandable as they were authorized to leave the country
after they had turned 28.
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