Raymond Goethals

RAYMOND Goethals, the Belgian football coach who steered Olympique Marseille to the European Champions Cup in 1993, died yesterday. He was 83.

Marseille’s 1-0 win over AC Milan in the 1993 final was the highlight in Goethals’ long coaching career, which also saw him take the Belgian national team to the 1970 World Cup finals and win the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1978 with Anderlecht.

The wily, Brussels-born coach was nicknamed "Raymond the Science" for his knowledge of the game.

Goethals began his soccer career as a goalkeeper starting in the 1930s with the Brussels club Daring. He turned to coaching in the 1950s and was appointed to run the Belgian national team in 1968.

He also took the "Red Devils" to the 1972 European Championships, where Belgium finished third.

Returning to club football, Goethals led the Belgian club Anderlecht to the final of the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1977, before winning the competition a year later.

After spells in France and Brazil, he returned to take charge of Standard Liege, winning the 1982 and 1983 Belgian Championship and guiding them to the European Cup Winners’ Cup final.

Back at Anderlecht in 1987, Goethals won another Belgian championship and two Belgian Cup titles.

In 1990, Goethals moved to Marseille, where owner Bernard Tapie was ambitious for European glory. In 1991, Olympique Marseille lost the European Cup final on penalties to Red Star Belgrade, but two years later, Goethals steered the French club to the title.