former player of the France team and legend of the Greens, Georges Bereta is dead

He was one of the best French footballers of the early 1970s. Georges Bereta has died at the age of 77, the Greens announced on Tuesday July 4. He was a centerpiece of AS Saint-Étienne, the dominant club at the time, where he had been trained before playing there between 1966 and 1974.

The son of a Polish immigrant, this player of modest height (1.66 m) had joined Saint-Étienne at the age of 14 and, alongside sport, trained as a gunsmith, a profession he practiced as a polisher of rifles until the age of 18, before becoming a professional footballer from 1966.

Six titles of champion of France with the Greens

The left winger took off under the management of Albert Batteux (1967-1972) then Robert Herbin, playing 343 games with Saint-Étienne for a total of 68 goals until December 1974, before playing 96 with OM (10 goals), where he had been transferred in January 1975, when the Saint-Etienne club was in the grip of financial difficulties.

At the same time, Georges Bereta obtained 44 selections (4 goals) in the French team between 1967 and 1975. Not the best period for the Blues, who had twice failed to qualify for the World Cup (in 1970 and 1974) .

At national level, his record is rich with six French championship titles (1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1975) and four French Cups (1968, 1970, 1974 with Saint-Étienne and 1976 with OM). ).