Robert Accard

Robert Auguste Accard (26 November 1897 – 15 October 1971) was a French footballer who played as a midfielder for Le Havre and the French national team in the 1920s.

Playing career Club career Born on 26 November 1897 in Lisieux, Calvados,

Accard eventually established himself as a solid midfielder and an undisputed starter in the team, playing a crucial role in helping Le Havre win the 1919 USFSA Football Championship, beating Olympique de Marseille 4–1 in the final in May 1919. Together with Henri Gibbon, Bernard Lenoble, and Alfred Thorel, he helped Le Havre reach the 1920 Coupe de France final, which ended in a 2–1 loss to CA Paris. He remained loyal to Le Havre for a full decade, from 1915 until 1925, when he left for , with whom he won the Coupe Normandy in 1930, and where he played for five years, until 1930, when he retired at the age of 33.

Managerial career At some point in the early 1930s, Accard became the coach of Stade Français, where he invented the defensive tactic of béton ("concrete") which would serve as a model for the Italian "catenaccio" and then the "Swiss lock", also known as the "Rappan lock", named after the Austrian Karl Rappan, who implemented this system at Servette in 1932.

Death Accard died in Le Havre on 15 October 1971, at the age of 73.

Honours Le Havre AC USFSA Football Championship: Champions (1): 1919 Coupe de France: Runner-up (1): 1920

Coupe Normandy Champions (1): 1930