Franz Pleyer

Franz Pleyer
	Pleyer with Rennes in 1935
Personal information
Date of birth	23 February 1911
Place of birth	Vienna, Austria
Date of death	3 September 1999 (aged 88)
Position(s)	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team
–1933	Brigittenauer AC
1933–1939	Rennes
1946–1951	Rennes
Total
Managerial career
1945–1952	Rennes
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Franz "François" Pleyer (23 February 1911 – 3 September 1999) was a naturalized French professional footballer.

Career

Pleyer was born in Vienna, the capital city of Austria. He played for Brigittenauer AC in his home country before moving to France in 1933 to play for Stade Rennais UC. Pleyer spent the rest of his career playing for Rennes appearing in over 200 matches for the club.^[1] In 1935, he played on the team that reached the final of the Coupe de France. In the final, Rennes were defeated 3–0 by Marseille.^[2] In December 1936, Player acquired French citizenship and adopted the name François, the French anglicisation of Franz.

In 1939, Pleyer's football career was put on hold due to World War II. He served for France during the war and, following its conclusion, returned to Rennes. Pleyer spent his latter years with the club serving in a player-coach role. His final appearance with Rennes was in May 1951 at the age of 40.

References

^ Loire, Claude (1998). Le Stade rennais, fleuron du football breton. Apogée. p. 88. ISBN 2-84398-000-3.
^ "Finale le 05/05/1935, Colombes (Yves du Manoir)" (in French). French Football Federation. Archived from the original on 10 August 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2011.