Gabriel Hanot

Gabriel Hanot (; 6 November 1889 – 10 August 1968) was a French footballer, coach and journalist.

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. 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 Hanot was born in Arras on 6 November 1889, and was introduced to football whilst at lycée in nearby Tourcoing. Discovering a talent for the sport, Hanot played for local side US Tourcoing, with whom he won a USFSA French title in 1910, 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.

Hanot was not selected for France at all the following two years, and in 1910 headed to Münster to study at university, where he continued playing football for local side Preußen Münster. 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, and finally seeing the competition fully take shape in 1955 as the European Cup, now known as the UEFA Champions League.

From 1945 to 1949, Hanot coached the France national team, 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.

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. 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.

Honours US Tourcoing

USFSA French Championship: 1910 Challenge International du Nord: 1913