Roger Piantoni (26 December 1931 – 26 May 2018) was a French footballer who played as an inside-forward and was a star on the France national team in the late 1950s.
He was nicknamed Bout d'chou, meaning "Cabbage Tip", ranking as the sixth top scorer in the French Championship with a total of 203 goals in Division 1.
[2][3] Roger Piantoni spent his youth in the mining town of La Mourière, in the community of Piennes in Meurthe-et-Moselle.
In November 1952, in a friendly match against Ireland, he was selected to join the France national team for the first time.
A few months later, on 23 September 1953, FC Nancy beat Real Madrid 4–2 on their Chamartin field (later renamed Santiago Bernabéu) in a friendly match.
This match was remarkable as the official debuts of Piantoni for FC Nancy, and Alfredo Di Stéfano for Madrid.
They quickly forgot the departure of Raymond Kopa, the hero of the Stage Auguste-Delaune, who left a year earlier for Real Madrid.
After his exploits in Sweden, Piantoni returned with the Rémois but the defending championship team was struggling; it finished fourth with eight points at the end of the year.
A few weeks after the end of this remarkable European run, Piantoni and his teammates took the field for the 1959–1960 edition of the French championship.
The 1960–61 season was less glorious for Stade de Reims who finished seven points behind AS Monaco in May, due to the serious injury that hit their star forward Fontaine just a few months earlier.
As a result of this injury, Fontaine ended discussions for a possible transfer of Piantoni to the Argentinian club of River Plate.
Piantoni received his first selection on 16 November 1952, in a friendly match in Dublin between the French team and Ireland (1–1).
Teaming with Just Fontaine and Raymond Kopa, Piantoni played the first five games where he scored four goals, including the second in the semi-final against the Seleção.
He also worked for several years as a commentator on football matches on Antenne 2 alongside Michel Drucker and Bernard Père.