Just Fontaine, who had 13 goals in all of the World Cup finals, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 89, his family confirmed to AFP.
In the 1958 finals in Sweden, where France made it to the semifinals for the first time ever before losing to Pele’s Brazil, Fontaine set the record.
Fontaine, who was part of a fantastic attacking trident with Roger Piantoni and Raymond Kopa at that World Cup, might not have gone to Sweden at all.
Only injuries to fellow forwards Thadee Cisowski and his Reims teammate Rene Bliard saw him make the squad and then the starting line-up.
Fontaine also won four French league titles, one with Nice and three with the great Reims side of the post-war era.
He played in the Reims team that lost to the Real Madrid of Alfredo di Stefano, Ferenc Puskas and Raymond Kopa in the 1959 European Cup final.
Fontaine was then forced to retire in 1962 at the age of just 28 after he suffered a double leg fracture.
He later moved into management, lasting just two matches in charge of France in 1967 before leading Paris Saint-Germain to promotion to the top division in 1974 and then coaching Morocco to third place at the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations.
