:Jules Rimet
{{short description|French football administrator (1873–1956)}}
{{for|the trophy|Jules Rimet Trophy}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Jules Rimet
| image = Jules Rimet 1933.jpg
| caption = Rimet in 1933
| order = 3rd
| office = President of FIFA
| term_start = 1 March 1921
| term_end = 21 June 1954
| predecessor = Daniel Burley Woolfall
| successor = Rodolphe William Seeldrayers
| order1 =
| office1 = President of FFF
| term_start1 = 1919
| term_end1 = 1942
| predecessor1 =
| successor1 = Henri Jevain
| term_start2 = 1944
| term_end2 = 1949
| predecessor2 = Henri Jevain
| successor2 = Emmanuel Gambardella
| birth_date = {{birth date|1873|10|14|df=y}}
| birth_place = Theuley, Franche-Comté, France
| death_date = {{death date and age|1956|10|16|1873|10|14|df=y}}
| death_place = Suresnes, Île-de-France, France
| birthname =
| spouse=
| children=
| alma_mater =
| residence =
| profession = Football administrator
|signature =Jules Rimet Signature.png
}}
Jules Rimet ({{IPA|fr|ʒyl ʁimɛ}}; 14 October 1873 – 16 October 1956) was a French football administrator who was the 3rd President of FIFA, serving from 1921 to 1954. He is FIFA's longest-serving president, in office for 33 years. He also served as the president of the French Football Federation from 1919 to 1942, and again from 1944 to 1949.
On Rimet's initiative, the first FIFA World Cup was held in 1930. The Jules Rimet Trophy was named in his honour. He also founded French club Red Star, known as Red Star Club Français upon its creation in 1897.
Early life
Jules Rimet was born in 1873 in the commune of Theuley, in the department of Haute-Saône in eastern France. His father was a grocer, and the family moved to Paris in 1884 when Jules was eleven years old. He became a lawyer, and in 1897 he started a sports club called Red Star which, due to Rimet's ideals, did not discriminate against its members on the basis of class. One of the sports played at the club was football, which was becoming popular. When he was 17, Pope Leo XIII released his encyclical on the dignity of work, Rerum novarum, which would have a profound effect on the young Catholic Rimet, and sparked his efforts to promote these views.{{Cite web | url=https://catholicherald.co.uk/the-catholic-visionary-who-founded-the-world-cup/ | title=The Catholic visionary who founded the World Cup|first=Michael |last=Duggan|website=Catholic Herald| date=14 June 2018|access-date=30 January 2023}}
Football and FIFA
Rimet was involved in the founding of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football, commonly abbreviated to FIFA) in 1904, and, while the fledgling organisation had plans for a global professional tournament, it instead was involved in running an amateur tournament as part of the 1908 Summer Olympics.
The First World War put Rimet's and FIFA's plans on hold. Rimet served in the French Army as an officer and was decorated with a Croix de Guerre.
Following the war in 1919, he became President of the French Football Federation, and then President of FIFA on 1 March 1921.{{cite web|title=History of FIFA - More associations follow|url=https://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/history/fifa/historyfifa3.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071121133913/http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/history/fifa/historyfifa3.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 November 2007|publisher=FIFA|access-date=10 April 2012}} He would hold the post until 1954 becoming the longest reigning President to date,{{cite news|last=Murray|first=Scott|title=Which Fifa presidents have served longer than Sepp Blatter?|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2011/mar/23/knowledge-fifa-president-sepp-blatter|access-date=10 April 2012|newspaper=The Guardian|date=23 March 2011}} taking the membership of the organisation from twelve up to 85 nations, despite losing the membership of the English, Welsh and Scottish Football Associations during the early years. After taking up the post he moved once again to start a global tournament, but was opposed by the amateur football associations and Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the International Olympic Committee.
=The World Cup=
In 1928 FIFA, under Rimet's leadership, went forward with plans for a "World Cup" which was held in Uruguay due to the nature of the professional game in South America, and in part because the Uruguayan Football Association offered to pay all travel costs. Rimet travelled to Uruguay for the World Cup on SS Conte Verde along with the competing European teams, all the while carrying the trophy in his bag.{{cite news|title=Jules Rimet: The man who kicked off the World Cup|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/jules-rimet-the-man-who-kicked-off-the-world-cup-481145.html|first=John |last=Lichfield|
access-date=10 April 2012|newspaper=The Independent|date=5 June 2006}}
However Rimet's decisions on where to host the first few World Cups led to criticism: European nations complained about the 1930 World Cup because players would be out of domestic tournaments for three months. This was the key reason why, of the European nations, only four (France, Belgium, Romania and Yugoslavia) accepted invitations to send teams to compete, and even then, they only did so because of Rimet's influence.{{cite web|title=History of FIFA - The first FIFA World Cup|url=https://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/history/fifa/historyfifa4.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071105015327/http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/history/fifa/historyfifa4.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 November 2007|publisher=FIFA|access-date=10 April 2012}} The following World Cup was held in Italy under the Fascist rule of Benito Mussolini, which was used to promote the regime, something that Rimet was accused of ignoring.
Following the Second World War, the British football associations agreed to take part from the 1950 FIFA World Cup onwards, where Rimet himself handed over the trophy to the triumphant Uruguayan team when Uruguay won the tournament for the second time.{{cite news|title=Uruguay world's champion|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/1950/jul/16/worldcup2006.sport|access-date=10 April 2012|newspaper=The Guardian|date=16 July 1950}} Rimet's efforts in establishing the tournament earned him a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1956.
Later life and legacy
Rimet died in Suresnes, France in 1956, two days after his 83rd birthday. In 2004, he was posthumously made a member of the FIFA Order of Merit, which was collected by his grandson Yves Rimet. He is credited with being the inventor of the World Cup.{{cite news|title=Sheffield FC are Real's equals at FIFA Congress|url=http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/5/22/sports/8039462&sec=sports|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120717054547/http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004/5/22/sports/8039462&sec=sports|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 July 2012|access-date=10 April 2012|newspaper=The Star|date=22 May 2004}}
The original World Cup trophy was named the Jules Rimet Trophy in his honour. It was stolen just prior to the 1966 World Cup in England, but was found by the dog Pickles. Brazil won the tournament for the third time at the 1970 World Cup, and were awarded the trophy permanently. It was stolen again, in Rio de Janeiro in 1983; while it is believed to have been melted down by the thieves, there is no conclusive proof of this. The Brazilian Football Confederation subsequently had a replica of the trophy made.{{cite web|title=Jules Rimet Cup |url=https://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/history/worldcup/julesrimettrophy.html |publisher=FIFA |access-date=10 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130318114431/http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/history/worldcup/julesrimettrophy.html |archive-date=18 March 2013 }} Rumours of the various disappearances of the trophy, and its final resting place, still persist.{{cite news|last=Kuper|first=Simon|title=My quest for football's Holy Grail|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/b18303ca-633e-11e1-9245-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1rfospela|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210221238/https://www.ft.com/content/b18303ca-633e-11e1-9245-00144feabdc0#axzz1rfospela|archive-date=10 December 2022|url-access=subscription|access-date=10 April 2012|newspaper=The Financial Times|date=3 March 2012|url-status=live}} A statue of Rimet stands in Theuley in the middle of a penalty box, complete with goal.
Rimet was portrayed by Academy Award-nominated French actor Gérard Depardieu in the 2014 biographical drama United Passions.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/sports/fifa-film-an-epic-fantasy.html|title=FIFA Film: An Epic Fantasy|last=Barry|first=Dan|date=1 June 2015|work=The New York Times|access-date=10 August 2017|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}
References
{{reflist|2}}
- Jean-Yves Guillain, La Coupe du monde de football, l'œuvre de Jules Rimet, Éditions Amphora, 1998
{{Commonscat|Jules Rimet}}
- {{Portal-inline|Biography}}
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Category:Burials at the Cimetière parisien de Bagneux
Category:Commanders of the Legion of Honour
Category:Founders of association football institutions
Category:French football chairmen and investors
Category:French military personnel of World War I
Category:French Roman Catholics
Category:Presidents of the French Football Federation
Category:Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France)