Player at Racing club de Lens then at FC Nantes, international in the 1960s, Robert Budzynski, born in the region in Calonne-Ricouart in Pas-de-Calais, died at the end of the afternoon this Monday July 17, 2023 He was 83 years old.
Former defender of RC Lens then Nantes (FC Nantes), Robert Budzynski, died this Monday July 17, 2023, in the afternoon. At 83, the former player was seriously ill, with a state of health that deteriorated over time, especially in recent weeks.
This native of Calonne-Ricouart, in Pas-de-Calais, spotted by Henri Trannin in 1958, was trained in Lens after passing a license from the Auchel Sports Union. Crowned eleven times as a French international in the 1960s, he completely oriented his career as a defender towards Nantes, where he ultimately spent 35 years as sports director.
As a central defender and freshly landed in Nantes in 1963, the one nicknamed “Bud'” notably participated in the victory of the team during the French championships of 1965 and 1966. But at 28, a fracture of the tibia-fibula put a brake on his career. Robert Budzynski was never able to fully recover from this injury, and retired from sport the following year.
The former player then became a recruiter and sports director for FC Nantes, a position just emerging in France, of which he participated in defining the contours. His mandate as director allows the Nantes club to win the French championship six times.
According to AFP, as sports director, “Robert Budzynski notably unearthed Vahid Halilhodzic (future coach of LOSC) in the former Yugoslavia, Jorge Burruchaga in Independiente and the Chadian Japhet Ndoram in Cameroon, at Tonnerre de Yaoundé.”
From 1965 to 1967, alongside his integration into the Nanres team, Bud’ joined the benches of the France team, notably for the three matches of the 1966 World Cup, where, as AFP recalls, “he notably led with Robert Herbin and Jacky Simon the rebellion of the players against coach Henri Guérin and his assistants asking to play the last in the zone, as in Nantes, and not in individual marking, without preventing the defeat against England (2-0) and elimination in the first round.
2023-07-18 11:26:54
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