Richard Tylinski, AS Saint-Etienne's "first-ever" player, has died

He was one of the pioneers of the great national epics of AS Saint-Etienne (ASSE), one of the players "of all the firsts under the green tunic" , as the French football club recalled in a press release on Sunday, August 17. Former defender Richard Tylinski died on Saturday at the age of 87.

During his career, he played 312 matches with ASSE, "all as a starter" , even scoring two goals, between 1953 and 1966. "He was one of the key players of the undisputed master that was Jean Snella" , the coach - who died in 1979 - who, during his two spells on the bench of the Greens (1950-1959, then 1963-1967), led them to three French championship titles (1957, 1964, 1967) out of the ten they have today.

Richard Tylinski took part in the first two victorious campaigns, as well as those leading to the Coupe de France title in 1962 – the first of six won by the club – and the Division 2 title in 1963. On September 4, 1957, he also played in the Saint-Etienne club's first ever European match, beaten by Glasgow Rangers at Ibrox Park (1-3).

The son of a miner and, initially, a miner himself, he was also an international at the junior, military and youth levels, before being selected three times for the French senior team between 1957 and 1960.

Richard Tylinski "will have undeniably left his mark on ASSE and written the first pages of its legend" , summarize the Greens in their press release.