Laurent was born in
Saint-Maur-des-Fossés,
Val-de-Marne, near
Paris. He was the younger brother of
Jean Laurent, who also played football and represented France and was named to the squad for the 1930 World Cup. He was also part of France's squad for the
1928 Summer Olympics, but he did not play in any matches. Between 1921 and 1930, he played for the semi-professional team
Cercle Athlétique de Paris, before being taken on by
Sochaux, then a workers team for the car manufacturer
Peugeot, where he was employed. As an
amateur player, he only received basic compensation from the
French Football Federation while at the
1930 World Cup in Uruguay.
France won the game 4–1, but lost their remaining group matches to
Argentina and
Chile, and were thus eliminated in the group stage. Laurent was ruled out of the third game due to an injury. Laurent was named to the French squad for the
1934 World Cup, but was unable to play due to an injury. He later moved to
Rennes, playing for them until 1937, then for
RC Strasbourg until 1939. In all, Laurent played 10 times for France, but scored only one other goal against
England in May 1931. He joined the French armed forces during
World War II, but spent three years as a
prisoner of war in Saxony before being released in 1943. He played two years of wartime football for
Besançon before retiring in 1946, opting to become a trainer and youth coach. He was the only surviving member of the 1930 French team to see France lift the
1998 FIFA World Cup on home soil, and died seven years later at the age of 97 in
Besançon. ==Career statistics==