Louis Désiré Bach (14 April 1883 – 16 September 1914) was a French footballer who played as a defender and who competed in the football tournament at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, winning a silver medal as a member of the USFSA Olympic team representing France, which was primarily made up of Club Français players.

Playing career

Club career

Louis Bach was born in 10th arrondissement of Paris on 14 April 1883, and he began his football career at his hometown team, Club Français. On 23 October 1899, the 16-year-old Bach started in the 1899 Coupe Manier final at Suresnes, helping his side to a 6–0 win over RC Roubaix. Bach was a member of the Club Français team that won the Championnat de Paris. On 29 April 1900, he started in the final of the 1900 Challenge International du Nord in Tourcoing, which ended in a 2–3 loss to Le Havre AC. In the following week, on 6 May, he started in another final against Le Havre AC, this time in the 1900 USFSA Football Championship, and even though he "worked wonders after wonders", Club Français lost 0–1. Later that year, on 23 December, Bach formed a defensive partnership with Pierre Allemane in the 1900 Coupe Manier final at Joinville, keeping a clean-sheet in a 1–0 win over UA I arrondissement. According to M.C.E. Reeves, the captain of the Norwood and Selhurst Football Club interviewed in October 1900, Bach was "one the best defenders he had watched playing".

International career

Bach was listed as a defender for the USFSA team at the 1900 Olympic Games. Having just turned 17-years-old, Bach was the youngest member of the team. He was selected for both matches, which ended in a 0–4 loss to Upton Park on 20 September, and in a 6–2 win over a team representing Belgium three days later. The French team came second and Bach was thus awarded with a silver medal.

Later life

Bach enlisted in the French Army in 1904, but left in 1906, although he stayed in the reserves. When the First World War broke out in August 1914, he was called up and joined his old regiment, the 128e Régiment d’Infanterie, being killed in action in Servon-Melzicourt, Marne, on 16 September 1914, at the age of 31, and was buried in the Nécropole Nationale de Saint-Thomas-en-Argonne.

Honours

Club

International