It is a legend of Olympique Lyonnais who is gone. Aimé Mignot, defender and captain of the Rhone club, with which he played 425 matches from 1955 to 1966, died on the night of Friday to Saturday at the age of 89 following peritonitis. The news was announced on Twitter by Stéphane Benas, director of the OL museum. “He devoted his life to football, first with the men and then with the women. We loved him deeply”, can we read there.
Double winner of the Coupe de France
Aimé Mignot began his professional career in Aix-en-Provence, his hometown. Winner of the Coupe de France – the first in the club’s history – with Lyon in 1964 against Girondins de Bordeaux (2-0), the defender then did it again as a coach in 1973 against FC Nantes ( 2-1). He will remain on the bench for eight seasons, a longevity record (from 1968 to 1976).
As Le Progrès reminds us, Aimé Mignot is the one who “launched another icon of the Lyon club, striker Bernard Lacombe”, the second top scorer in the history of the club. After experiences in Angers then in Alès, he then became in 1987 the first coach of a French women’s team, taking Les Bleues to the final phase of a European Championship in 1997, as underlined by the FFF in a press release on his site.