{{Short description|French footballer and journalist (1889–1968)}} {{Expand French|topic=bio|Gabriel Hanot|date=May 2024}} {{Use Oxford spelling|date=March 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}} {{Infobox football biography | name = Gabriel Hanot | image = Gabriel Hanot 1910.JPEG | caption = Hanot in 1910 | birth_date = {{birth date|1889|11|6|df=y}} | birth_place = Arras, France | death_date = {{death date and age|1968|8|10|1889|11|6|df=y}} | death_place = Wangenbourg-Engenthal, France | height = | position = Defender, Winger | years1 = 1906-1910 | clubs1 = US Tourcoing | years2 = 1910-1912 | clubs2 = Preußen Münster | years3 = 1912-1915 | clubs3 = US Tourcoing | years4 = 1916-1919 | clubs4 = AS Francilienne | nationalyears1 = 1908–1919 | nationalteam1 = France | nationalcaps1 = 12 | nationalgoals1 = 3 | manageryears1 = 1945–1949 | managerclubs1 = France (coach under a committee) }}
'''Gabriel Hanot''' ({{IPA|fr|ɡabʁijɛl ano}}; 6 November 1889 – 10 August 1968) was a French footballer, coach and journalist.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Gabriel HANOT |url=https://www.fff.fr/equipe-nationale/joueur/7235-hanot-gabriel/fiche.html |access-date=1 October 2025 |website=fff.fr |language=fr |type=Official website of the French Football Federation}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Duluc |first=Vincent |date=4 April 2025 |title=L'intransigeant Gabriel Hanot de « L'Équipe », à l'origine de tout, oublié de tous |url=https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Article/Gabriel-hanot-a-l-origine-de-tout-oublie-de-tous/1551456 |url-access=subscription |access-date=1 October 2025 |work=L'Équipe |language=fr}}</ref>
After a playing career which included 12 caps for the France national team, Hanot became a journalist and football administrator, also leading the France national team between 1945-49.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Gabriel HANOT (profil sélectionneur) |url=https://www.fff.fr/equipe-nationale/selectionneur/153-gabriel-hanot/fiche.html |access-date=1 October 2025 |website=fff.fr |language=fr |type=Official website of the French Football Federation}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Auclair |first=Philippe |date=30 June 2015 |title=Gabriel Hanot: the France coach who called for his own head |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jun/30/gabriel-hanot-france-coach-journalist |access-date=1 October 2025 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> His main achievements in football are the 1932 introduction of professionalism to French football; formulating the idea to create a European Cup (which has since become the UEFA Champions League); and the launching of the Ballon d'Or.
== Playing career == Hanot was born in Arras on 6 November 1889, and was introduced to football whilst at lycée in nearby Tourcoing.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Krall |first=Malaurie |date=20 July 2022 |title=Son grand-père a participé à créer la Ligue des champions : il se bat pour qu'il soit reconnu |url=https://www.ouest-france.fr/sport/football/ligue-des-champions/son-grand-pere-a-participe-a-creer-la-ligue-des-champions-il-se-bat-pour-qu-il-soit-reconnu-7865689 |access-date=1 October 2025 |work=Ouest-France |language=fr}}</ref> Discovering a talent for the sport, Hanot played for local side US Tourcoing, with whom he won a USFSA French title in 1910,<ref>{{Cite web |title=France 1892-1919 |url=https://www.rsssf.org/tablesf/fran-prewwi.html#1910 |access-date=1 October 2025 |website=rsssf.org}}</ref> and was selected at the age of 18 for the first time for the France national team, making a total of four appearances for the French national team in 1908 as a left winger.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> He was also included in France's squad for the football tournament at the 1908 Summer Olympics, but he did not play in any matches.<ref name=":5">{{cite web |url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/701800 |title=Gabriel Hanot |work=Olympedia |access-date=24 May 2021 |archive-date=24 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210524172605/https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/701800 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Hanot was not selected for France at all the following two years, and in 1910 headed to Münster<ref group="note">There is some doubt regarding whether Hanot studied in Münster or in Berlin, though this appears to be a mistake that originates from the name of Münster's local football team: Preußen (Prussia, in English). This name would generally point to Berlin and eastern Germany in general, but is in fact also the name chosen by Münster's team, and thus appears to have led to a misconception among many sources that Hanot studied in Berlin.</ref> to study at university, where he continued playing football for local side Preußen Münster.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> He returned to Tourcoing and France in 1912, where he won a Challenge International du Nord with US Tourcoing in 1913, and earned seven more caps for France, now playing as a full-back.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
Hanot's footballing career was interrupted by World War I, during which he enlisted in the French army as a pilot. He was shot down and taken prisoner by the German army on three occasions, but managed to escape each time.<ref name=":3" />
After the war, he played once more for France, as captain against Belgium on 9 March 1919,<ref name=":2" /> before his playing career was ended by a serious knee injury suffered during an aviation accident.<ref name=":3" /> In total, Hanot made 12 appearances for France, scoring three times.<ref name=":0" />
== Post-playing career == Following an aviation accident in 1919, Hanot gave up football and became a journalist, initially for sporting publication ''Miroir des sports'', for whom he covered golf and cycling, amongst other sports, before turning his focus directly back to football with ''L'Équipe''.<ref name=":3" />
In 1930, Hanot, alongside Marcel Rossini, pioneered the ''Concours du jeune footballeur'', a series of tests for young players done before the kick-off of the final of the Coupe de France, which would help uncover talents such as Raymond Kopa, Jean-Michel Larqué and Christian Sarramagna.<ref name=":2" /> He is also credited with introducing professionalism to French football in France, in 1932, helping form what is now Ligue 1.<ref name=":1" />
In December 1934, Hanot used the ''Miroir des sports'', whom he was by this point the director of, to put forth the idea of a European cup contested between club teams, inspired by the recent dramatic growth of aviation.<ref>{{Cite news |date=11 December 1934 |title=Échanges internationaux |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k97970873/f10.item |access-date=4 October 2025 |work=Le Miroir des sports |pages=507 |language=fr}}</ref> He would eventually return to this idea after the end of World War II, now alongside ''L'Équipe'' colleague Jacques Ferran, relaunching the concept in late 1954,<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=Chapeau bas M. Hanot |url=http://fr.uefa.com/news/newsid=420501.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304112736/http://fr.uefa.com/news/newsid=420501.html#federation=archive.wikiwix.com&tab=url |archive-date=4 March 2016 |website=uefa.com |language=fr |type=Official website of UEFA |access-date=4 October 2025 }}</ref> and finally seeing the competition fully take shape in 1955 as the European Cup, now known as the UEFA Champions League.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=History |url=http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/history/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100215233959/http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/history/index.html |archive-date=15 February 2010 |website=uefa.com |type=Official website of UEFA}}</ref>
From 1945 to 1949, Hanot coached the France national team,<ref name=":4" /> including at the football tournament of the 1948 Summer Olympics in London,<ref name=":5" /> in which France beat India in the first round, before losing to Great Britain in the quarter-finals.<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 July 2024 |title=Londres 1948, sous l'empire britannique |url=https://www.fff.fr/article/12595-londres-1948-sous-l-empire-britannique.html |access-date=4 October 2025 |website=fff.fr |language=fr |type=Official website of the French Football Federation}}</ref> His tenure as national team manager came to an end when he anonymously called for his own resignation in June 1949 following a humiliating 1-5 loss to Spain, which he swiftly obliged.<ref name=":2" />
In 1947, Hanot cofounded the Amicale des Educateurs de football, an association intended to promote and support football coaching, part of which involved the introduction of coaching courses.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Présentation |url=https://www.aefoot.com/presentation |access-date=4 October 2025 |website=aefoot.com |language=fr}}</ref>
In 1956, through his magazine ''France Football'', Hanot created the Ballon d'Or award, a yearly award for the greatest male European footballer, voted for by journalists from across Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |title=28 September 2007 |url=http://fr.uefa.com/memberassociations/news/newsid=594146.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213185340/https://fr.uefa.com/memberassociations/news/newsid%3D594146.html#federation=archive.wikiwix.com&tab=url |archive-date=13 December 2019 |website=UEFA.com |language=fr |type=Official website of UEFA |access-date=4 October 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=5 July 2016 |title=The FIFA Ballon d'Or is born |url=http://www.fifa.com/ballondor/news/newsid%3D1268497/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101212212422/http://www.fifa.com/ballondor/news/newsid=1268497 |archive-date=12 December 2010 |website=fifa.com |type=Official website of FIFA}}</ref> In 2007, the award was expanded to include footballers from throughout the entire world, and in 2018, the Ballon d'Or Féminin was launched to celebrate the greatest female footballer of the year.
Hanot died on the 10 August 1968 at the age of 78 in Wangenbourg-Engenthal.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
== Legacy == Despite being pivotal to many key innovations and creations within the game of football, Hanot has become a largely forgotten figure over time,<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> lacking any statues or monuments to remember his achievements.<ref name=":2" /> However, his creations remain central within the world of football and sport generally: the UEFA Champions League, inspired by Hanot's ideas,<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /> is the most-watched club competition in the world, as well as one of the most prestigious football tournaments, and the Ballon d'Or remains one of the most sought-after awards in the world of football.<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 September 2025 |title=Ballon d'Or laureates: Who has won football's most prestigious award? |url=https://www.uefa.com/ballondor/news/0292-1c27056169a7-bc88d1fdba43-1000--ballon-d-or-laureates-who-has-won-football-s-most-prestig |access-date=4 October 2025 |website=UEFA.com |type=Official website of UEFA}}</ref>
== Honours == '''US Tourcoing'''
* USFSA French Championship: 1910 * Challenge International du Nord: 1913
== Notes == {{NoteFoot}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{France football squad 1908 Summer Olympics}} {{France national football team managers}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanot, Gabriel}} Category:1889 births Category:1968 deaths Category:French men's footballers Category:Footballers from Arras Category:France men's international footballers Category:BFC Preussen players Category:US Tourquennoise players Category:France national football team managers Category:Founders of association football institutions Category:French sports journalists Category:French male non-fiction writers Category:Men's association football full-backs Category:French football managers Category:20th-century French male writers Category:French military personnel of World War I Category:20th-century French sportsmen