Jean Boyer. This name may not say anything to the new Marseille fans but Boyer marked the history of Olympique de Marseille from 1920 to 1930.
A great scorer, Boyer spent 12 seasons at OM (1923-1935). Fast and clever, he marked the Club’s history with 170 goals scored in 181 matches played in all competitions. He remains the fourth best scorer in the history of Olympique de Marseille behind Gunnar Andersson (194), Jean-Pierre Papin (182) and Josip Skoblar (176). Jean Boyer will remain as an emblematic player of the Olympique de Marseille from the inter-war period. He wast he first star of the club.
Born February 13, 1901 in Vitry-sur-Seine in the Paris area ... Jean Boyer quickly made a name for himself. Evolving to the position of inter rights and renowned as a powerful player, efficient, energetic and with a bad temper, Jean Boyer was just 18-years-old the first time he wont the Coupe de France with his first club, CAS General Paris. He then went at VGA Médoc, a Bordeaux club and he knows his first selections in Team France. He was selected fifteen times with the tricolor team during his career between 1920 and 1927, during which he scored seven goals in the French jersey. He returned in 1922 to CASG Paris and made a short passage to SC Choisy-le-Roi.
HIS LEGEND BEGINS
It was in 1923 that the beautiful story between Olympique Marseille and Jean Boyer began. Pierre Robin, a cork dealer located near the Old Port and responsible for recruitment in the Paris region. He brought two prestigious Parisian footballers to OM, first midfielder Edouard Crut and forward Jean Boyer. Thanks to the popularity of the Stade de l'Huveaune, the Marseille club had more resources to recruit on the national scene. Jean Boyer, one meter eighty, arrived as French international. He notably participated in the historic victory of France over England on May 5, 1921, before 30,000 spectators in Paris (2-1). It was a friendly punctuated by a Boyer goal. He took part in the Olympic football tournament in the 1920 Antwerp Olympic Games and the 1924 Paris Olympics.
Employed as a broker in dry vegetables for 1,100 francs per month, so not to offend fans of amateurism, Boyer was in fact a professional who is asked to score goals and not to achieve big milestones. With Jean Boyer in the team, Olympique de Marseille won its first star, the first French international in the history of the club. An event at this time in Marseille.
THE FIRST STAR OF OM
The efforts of the Provencal club paid off immediately with Boyer in the team, OM won its first major titles. Olympique de Marseille, led by the incredible forwards trio of Boyer-Crut-Dewaquez, gleaning three French Cup (1924, 1926, 1927) trophies and the amateur championship in 1929. Boyer scored a goal in the victory in 1924 against FC Cette (3-2 ap). In this match, Boyer struck hard by scoring a hat-trick in the last quarter of an hour in the quarter-final against Stade Français while the Marseilles trailed 2-0. Some Phocaeans fans, convinced of the elimination of their team against the Parisians, had started to leave the stadium to take the train.The counted out the talent of Boyer. The French international also scored a goal in the final of the 1926 edition against AS Valentigney (4-1).
Jean Boyer officially became professional in 1932 at the age of 32 alongside OM’s first French championship as "professionals."
