The third Ballon d'Or winner
After two consecutive third places, Raymond Coppa won the award in 1958
The third "Golden Ball" award for the best football player on the continent of Europe was given in 1958. Again, a specially selected panel of sports journalists from the member countries of the European football powerhouse - UEFA has the right to nominate and then vote for the best players of the past year.
After two seasons in a row, Raymond Coppa remained in the third position, the Frenchman finally managed to reach the top. The Real Madrid man is blowing away the competition, although he lags behind Alfredo Di Stefano in terms of goals for his club side. Los Blancos again won the CASH, the championship, as well as played in the final of the country's cup tournament, then called the Copa del Generalissimo.
The attacking midfielder shapes Real Madrid's relentless attack and has been a huge helper to Alfredo Di Stefano and Paco Gento in scoring the goals that have taken the team to great success, both domestically and on the European stage.
In 1958, the Copa was the basis of the extremely strong performance of the French national team at the world championship in Sweden. The selection reached the semi-finals, where it was eliminated by the future champion Brazil, and in the dispute for the third place it humiliated West Germany with 6:3. In that match, Kopa scored one of his three goals of the tournament and although his team-mate Just Fontaine is the top scorer with 13 goals, Kopa continued the fine line of performance that began at club level that year.
Of the sixteen journalists who have the right to vote, Raymond Coppa collects 71 points. Fourteen people put him in the first position, only one does not put him in the perfect five, and the representative of France, of course, does not have the right to vote for him. Like Di Stefano a year earlier, Copa also remains well ahead of second-placed Helmut Rahn. The German, playing for Roth-Weiss Essen, collects 40 points. In third place is the compatriot of the Copa and top scorer of the World Cup in Sweden, Just Fontaine from Reims with 23 points. The five are completed by John Challes, who plays for Juventus and the national team of Wales, as well as the Swede Kurt Hamrin, who is part of the Fiorentina team. The two share the fourth position with 15 points each.
Among the football players who received points from the voting is the Bulgarian Ivan Kolev from CDNA Sofia, who remains in 19th place with 2 points.
Raymond Kopa's continued growth and incredible play finally earned him the most prestigious individual award for European footballers in 1958. Like first-time winner Stanley Matthews, the Copa is proof that the award doesn't go to the top goalscorer or the most successful player on the European stage, even though he won almost everything possible with Real Madrid.