Aurélien Tchouaméni: Meet the French soccer star everyone is talking about
Aurélien Tchouaméni was a footballer for several teams during his professional career. Here he describes the moments during his playing career that made him the man he is today.
Aurélien Tchouaméni has spent as much of his professional career as possible away from a pitch, having spent most of his days studying and coaching. And for good reason — after all, the French defender has been a man of the people since he was a child and has always been a passionate supporter and advocate for his native land as well as for world-class sports.
He is, for example, the only president who has ever worked on a matchday at the World Cup for the French national team.
So how did this man become the face of French soccer? The simple answer is that he’s a soccer superstar.
And the reason why is a beautiful one: it began in 1975 with his first job with the French national team when he was still a teenager. In the early days of French national team coach John Charles van der Gard, the then 17-year-old Tchouaméni was tasked with finding a player to play under manager Gérard Houllier.
This was his first experience of working with a coach on the national team. While a few other players were found the position, Tchouaméni was the only one who was selected. And from then on, Tchouaméni’s goal was to make it as a pro and work with a coach.
As a 17-year-old professional athlete, Aurélien Tchouaméni, who was to become known for his skill of scoring with a bicycle kick. PHOTO: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images
That he has done.
From the beginning, he did it by working and training with the most talented
