France's young footballers vie for gold at public speaking contest

Paris Saint-Germain’s win against Arsenal in the Champions League final on 30 May marked a landmark achievement for the club, while also serving as a source of inspiration for France’s aspiring professional athletes.

Each year, hundreds of aspiring professional footballers pursue a very different kind of win: a trophy at the national public-speaking competition organised by French non-profit Prométhée Éducation.

On 28th May, twenty young players from ten elite academies across France took part in the final, held at the Château de Versailles. For many, it was also their first time inside the UNESCO World Heritage site.

This time round, they were not judged by referees with whistles, but by prominent figures from the worlds of sport, culture and politics — including a former minister and a member of the National Assembly.

At 16 years old, Arthur Bar and Zélie Merlaud, two trainees at the PSG’s youth academy who hail from Paris and Mont-de-Marsan in southwest France, made it to the final round of the competition.

Although their five-minute speech about children’s rights did not win them a trophy, the experience left a long-lasting impression.

“We each showed our talents, one by one, and proved that football doesn’t make us idiots. I think today we managed to break down stereotypes,” Arthur Bar told Euronews.

“We are going to keep working on our public speaking because this will not be the last big test we face. For example, we will have to pass our oral baccalauréat exam [final at the end of secondary school], so we have to keep practising if we want to improve,” added his team-mate, Zélie Merlaud.

A host of football clubs across France — including PSG, AS Monaco and Olympique Lyonnais — support their young players in perfecting the art of public speaking.

Mohamed Slim, the founder of the public speaking competition is a graduate of the prestigious Sciences Po Paris university and spends his spare time to teaching young footballers how to win over the crowd with words.

“Many young footballers come from disadvantaged neighbourhoods and backgrounds. They do not all have the tools they need to master the exercise of speaking about football or even life outside the game,” Mohamed Slim told Euronews.

“Athletes are role models for young people and they carry messages. So to be able to convey messages effectively, you have to be able to speak with ease,” he added.

Over the years, this football enthusiast has coached major football talents, including LOSC Lille player Ayyoub Bouaddi, who will represent Morocco at the World Cup and PSG midfielder Warren Zaïre-Emery.

A host of football clubs across France — including PSG, AS Monaco and Olympique Lyonnais — support their young players in perfecting the art of public speaking.

“Athletes are role models for young people and they carry messages. So to be able to convey messages effectively, you have to be able to speak with ease,” he added.

Usuman Kebeh, a young midfielder at AS Monaco was among the winners of this year’s competition, impressing the jury with his speech answering the question: “Is luck just an illusion?”

“It is a subject that stirs up a lot of emotion in me and I think is what allowed me to get the upper hand in the competition. I had no idea I had this talent,” the 16-year-old footballer told Euronews.

“When I went up on stage, I thought about where I come from – Africa. I was representing my country, Gambia, or even all Africans, all Black people. Especially as I live on a housing estate, so for me, I really went against a stereotype,” he added.

Usuman Kebeh particularly managed to impress Pascal Gentil, a double Olympic taekwondo medallist, who has served on the competition’s jury for the past three years.

“He captured our attention through his tone of voice, his body language, the way he used his props – for example, his glasses – the fact that he used moments of silence and looked at us intently. He really managed to captivate us,” he explained.

Elisabeth Moreno, a jury member and France’s former minister for Gender Equality, was also impressed by the standard of the competition: “I spent two and a half hours listening to 15- and 16-year-olds presenting extremely powerful messages.”

“Hearing a young man talk about inequality between men and women gave me goosebumps. Taking the time to listen to them, to teach them public-speaking techniques, means giving them the chance to express their ideas,” she added.

A view shared by Karl Olive, a former sports journalist and now a member of the National Assembly representing the liberal Renaissance group: “We are witnessing a revolution, because ten years ago, very few professional clubs had this kind of course in their programmes.”

“There is now real expertise developing in the training centres of professional football clubs. That is important because some of these young people will be interviewed live,” noted the politician.

“As an MP, I think many of the young people who spoke in the final would be capable of addressing the chamber in the National Assembly!”

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