René Petit

René Petit
René Petit (left) in 1924
Personal information
Full name Renato Petit de Ory
Date of birth (1899-10-08)8 October 1899
Place of birth Dax, Landes, France
Date of death 14 October 1989(1989-10-14) (aged 90)
Position Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1914–1917 Madrid FC 13+ (3+)
1917–1918 Real Unión 1
1918–1920 Stade Bordelais
1920–1932 Real Unión 44+ (8+)
International career
1915–1917 Madrid
1922–1929 Gipuzkoa
1920 France 2 (0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Renato Petit de Ory, better known by his French name, René Petit (8 October 1899 – 14 October 1989), was a Franco-Spanish engineer, known for being a footballer in his youth. He was one of the most popular players in Spanish football in the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s, playing for Real Madrid and Real Unión, and becoming a member of the France national team. He represented France at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Belgium.

The figure of René Petit has a double ambivalence. On the one hand, there is his dual nationality, French and Spanish, and his status as a Basque-French. On the other hand, there is his double vocation: the first, as a brilliant footballer, and the second, as a clever civil engineer, who built Bilbao's Arenal Bridge and the Yesa Reservoir.