Eugène Fraysse

Jean Eugène Fraysse (4 May 1870 – 1 May 1950) was a French footballer who played as a forward. He founded Club Français in 1892, becoming its first captain and leading the club to multiple trophies in the late 20th century, including the 1896 French Championship (USFSA) and two Coupe Manier titles in 1897 and 1898.

He competed in the football tournament at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, winning a silver medal as a member of the USFSA Olympic team representing France, which was primarily made up of Club Français players.

Early life and education Jean Eugène Fraysse was born in the 18th arrondissement of Paris on 4 May 1870, (Some sources wrongly claim that he was born on 24 August 1879, due to a confusion with a certain Maurice-Eugène Fraysse, the son of an undeclared father who was recognized by his mother, Florentine-Pétronille Fraysse, a seamstress.) While most of the clubs in France founded in the 19th century were the creation of the British who had left their homeland, the Club Français was the work of two Frenchman, becoming the first club reserved exclusively for the French, hence its name.

In 1894, he was appointed vice-president and captain of Club Français. On 24 February 1895, Fraysse and his teammate Bernat were the only Frenchman selected to play for the first representative team of Paris in a friendly match against the London-based Folkestone at the soggy pitch of the Seine Velodrome, which ended in a 0–3 loss. In 1896, Fraysse captained the Club Français team to victory in the 1896 USFSA Football Championship, doing so without losing a single match. In July 1896, Fraysse refereed a match between the second teams of Club Français and CP Asnières.

Fraysse (seated on the floor, first from right) with Club Français at the Parc des Princes on 26 December 1897. In December 1896, Fraysse captained the first exclusively French selection against the English Ramblers, a motley selection of Englishmen on tour, During the match, he became a little dizzy after falling against a post, and missed several chances, and after the match, it was said that he had imagined having played a championship match and was therefore sad.

National dominance On 28 March 1898, Fraysse started in the final of the 1898 Coupe Manier at the Vélodrome de Vincennes, helping his side to a 10–0 win over Paris Star. In the following week, on 3 April, he started in the final of the 1898 USFSA Football Championship against Standard AC at Courbevoie, which ended in a 2–3 loss.

In the following year, on 16 April 1899, he started in the play-off match against Standard AC to decide the 1898–99 USFSA Paris championship, assisting two goals to help his side to a 3–2 win. This victory qualified the club to the 1899 USFSA national championship, in which Club Français withdrew from the final before facing Le Havre AC.

Later career In 1899, the 29-year-old Fraysse moved to Racing Club de France, where he retired in 1901, aged 31. A few days later, Weber wrote an article about their reunion, referring to him as "Eugène Cresson", and stating that "he wanted to talk about the Club Français and its founders, and was surprised by my lack of memory", and then added that the first players of CF "produced a beautiful series of efforts and showed a magnificent disinterested ardor, who ensured the success of association football from its beginnings in France". At the time, the figure of the coach as we know it today did not yet exist, so it was the duty of the captain, Fraysse, to dictate the tactics to be followed and making up the line-ups, and he chose to align, not a heterogeneous selection as in 1896 against the English Ramblers, but a reinforced club, to ensure the cohesion of the team.

Fraysse was listed as a forward for the USFSA team at the 1900 Olympic Games. Fraysse captained the French team in its opening match against Upton Park on 20 September, which ended in a humiliating 0–4 loss, thus becoming the first captain of a French national team. The French team came second and Fraysse was thus awarded with a silver medal. Fraysse and Neville, who had coached the French team at the 1900 Olympics, described the football team as a military squadron under the orders of its officer, stating that "the many qualities that a player must possess to properly fulfill the functions of captain are the same required of a general; his team is a small army that he must know how to command, instruct and lead, and the team must have unlimited confidence in him".

Death and legacy Fraysse died in the 16th arrondissement of Paris on 1 May 1950, just three days short of his 80th birthday.

On 12 November 2020, Pierre Cazal published his book called Sélectionneurs des Bleus: De Fraysse à Deschamps (The managers of the Bleus: From Fraysse to Deschamps), which relates the chronology of the several managers of the French team.

Honours Club Club Français USFSA Paris Championship: Champions (1): 1898–99 USFSA Football Championship: Champions (1): 1896 Runner-up (2): 1898 and 1899 Coupe Manier: Champions (2): 1897 and 1898

International France MNT Summer Olympics: Silver medal (1): 1900