Michel François Hidalgo (22 March 1933 – 26 March 2020) was a French professional footballer and manager. He was the head coach of the France national team from March 27, 1976 to June 27, 1984, with whom he won the UEFA Euro 1984 on home soil, also reaching the semi-finals of the 1982 FIFA World Cup.

Michel François Hidalgo was born on 22 March 1933 in Leffrinckoucke, department of Nord. Michel and his twin brother Serge were born to a Spanish-born father, metal worker employed at the metallurgical company of Normandy ("société métallurgique de Normandie") and communist militant too, and a Parisian mother, both living in north-western France, and after 1935 grew up at Mondeville-Colombelle, Calvados, in Normandy. In 1940 the Hidalgo family is evacuated as many working families in metallurgy, in order to flee the Wehrmacht advance. His family returns to settle in 1946 in the devasted vicinity of Caen near the same metallurgical factory, where the father still works and the twins started playing football in a patronage club created, from odds and ends, by the Catholic priest, Father Martin, a football lover.. The promising junior player is recruited by "Union Sportive Normande", amateur workers' club, associated with the metallurgical factory where his father works.

Center forward, wing forward, or sometimes, to preserve a result, libero before being midfielder, Hidalgo was champion of Normandie Juniors in 1952 with US Normande, before signing up to Le Havre's books for two seasons, later playing for Reims, with whom he played and scored a goal in the 4–3 defeat to Real Madrid in the 1956 European Cup Final, also winning a league title in 1955.

Under the wing of Rocher, who signed him for Monaco, Hidalgo won two league titles and two national cup titles with Monaco. After the resignation of the founding president, his friend Just Fontaine, in 1965, he presided over the UNFP, a players' union and fights to impose a fair union definition of the 'contract on time' until june 1969.[8] Called to the French Federation of Foot-ball, he must leave this union function to Philippe Piat in 1970.

At international level, Hidalgo was capped once for the France national team the fifth day of may 1962 in a friendly match in Florence against Italy.

Later, Michel Hidalgo praised the game of great international players with strong personalities as Di Stefano, Pelé, Eusébio, Puskas, Kopa, Cruiff, Gerd Müller, Beckenbauer etc.

Hidalgo started managing the Monaco second or amateur team from 1967 as a player coach and even served, under specific loan contract, as a player-manager with Menton during the season 1968–1969. In 1970 he is called to the national technical direction (DTN, part of the French "Fédération" of Football) led by Georges Boulogne, as responsible for the southwest region. In 1972, during a Brazilian tour, he was promoted to assistant of Georges Boulogne with the French team. He remained in office under the authority of Stefan Kovacs from 1973 to December 1975. On the first of January 1976 he became director of national selections. ...

Source: Article "Michel Hidalgo" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.