Christian Dalger died on Saturday July 1 at the age of 73. The disappearance of the former striker of the French football team and AS Monaco was announced by the National Union of Professional Footballers (UNFP), the union of professional players playing in France.
“Player of Sporting Toulon, AS Monaco (1978 French champion) and the French team (6 selections), converted into a coach in France and Africa, Christian Dalger left on July 1 at 73 years. To his family, his loved ones, the UNFP offers its sincere condolences,” the union announced on Twitter on Saturday.
In a statement posted online on Sunday, the French Football Federation saluted the memory of “one of the most brilliant ambassadors” of Mediterranean football. “Christian Dalger has left us! I feel tremendous sadness! He was gifted in all games! A lovely man. We would never have been champions without this phenomenon in 1977 with AS Monaco”, commented Rolland Courbis on Twitter.
He had been one of the best French players of the 1977-1978 season with Monaco. Selected six times for the France team, he scored two goals in the blue jersey, including the famous France-Bulgaria’s third goal (3-1) in November 1977, when the Platini generation had qualified for their first FIFA Cup. world, the following year in Argentina.
As a player, he had known only two clubs, SC Toulon (1962-1971, then 1982-1985) and AS Monaco (1971-1980), with whom he won the French championship in 1978 then the Coupe de France. France in 1980. After his football career, he became a coach and had made stints in Toulon, Grenoble, Martigues, Vitrolles, Manosque and Marignane, and had been coach of Mali (2002-2003).
