Dominique Colonna, legend of Corsican football, died at the age of 95, his granddaughter announced to Jacques Vendroux for Europe 1. The former goalkeeper, selected 13 times for the French team, died died Tuesday at his home in Corte.
I just had Rachel’s granddaughter.Dominique Colonna, legend of French football, left peacefully for his home in Corte this morning @FFF@ogcnice@StadeDeReims“he left to join his friends” declares his granddaughter.
— Jacques Vendroux (@JacquesVendroux) September 12, 2023
“He inspired a whole generation of goalkeepers”
“We will remember the memory of an intrepid goalkeeper on the pitch, mischievous and charming off it,” reacted Jean-Pierre Caillot, the current president, on the website of the Champagne club. “Known for his outings at the feet of opposing attackers, he compensated for his height deficit (1.72 m) with extraordinary reflexes and relaxation. In this sense, he inspired an entire generation of goalkeepers,” said he added. Dominique Colonna was one of the last three survivors of the French team’s epic during the World Cup in Sweden in 1958, which it finished in third place.
Three French championship titles with the Rémois
Present in the group that went to the World Cup in Sweden, he did not play any matches, like the last two players still alive from this adventure, Robert Mouynet (93 years old, 0 selections) and Bernard Chiarelli (89 years old , 1 sel.). Born on September 4, 1928 in Corte (Corsica), Colonna joined Reims at the end of the 1950s, when the French team was competing with the biggest on the European scene. From 1957 to 1963, after a first national coronation with Nice, he notably won three French championship titles with the Rémois and played in a final of the European Cup of Champion Clubs – the ancestor of the current League of Champions. champions – against Real Madrid.
If the Reims stadium had lost 2 to 0, the Corsican goalkeeper had saved a penalty. With the Blues, Dominique Colonna honored 13 selections, the first in 1957 against Iceland (5-1) and the last four years later against Spain (0-2). After his sporting retirement, he briefly turned towards a coaching career, before the first coach of independent Cameroon, in 1963. He was also briefly in the organization chart of Olympique Marseille in 1995.