Flanked by tricolor jerseys and a strong identity stemming from the French and Parisian cultural imagination, the Musketeers burst out of the locker rooms before each match carried by the traditional spectacle that accompanies American sports leagues. The tifo that stands in the stands, although derived from “soccer”, is inspired by the motto of D’Artagnan and his ilk: “One for all, all Parisians”. Most of the squad is from the Paris region.
The club’s logo also recalls the elite soldiers made famous by Alexandre Dumas: a large white cross, a modernized version of the cross worn by the musketeers in the past.
The Paris Musketeers is the first French professional American football club. It is playing for the second consecutive year in the European League of Football (ELF), a private continental competition that brings together 17 franchises across Europe divided into three conferences, West, Central and East.
A professional practice, but time-consuming and exhausting. The team regularly travels to cities in the Western Conference such as Berlin, Cologne or Madrid, so it can happen that it travels “more than 20 hours by bus” to play in Hamburg, confides defensive back Maxime Roger. The next trip is scheduled to take place at the Bravos de Madrid on July 20.
“It’s professional because we are paid whatever happens during our season, but we are no longer paid when we stop playing at the end of the season,” explains Rémi Bertellin.
For the 30-year-old receiver, joining the Paris Musketeers was an “obvious” choice, even if the amount of his salary, still too low to live “well”, requires him to have a second job as an IT consultant.
So, he agrees to sacrifice his free time “with family, friends, girlfriend, you had very little free time during the season or off-season”.
Hugo Tekedam also leads two lives. The first with Paris, as a quarterback or receiver, the “control tower that makes decisions in the game or the one who receives throws to gain ground”, the second as a student to become a sports coordinator.
– “The most supporters” –
“It’s a lot of investment, but it’s a lifestyle I’ve been used to since I was very young. As soon as I finish school I go to sports, so nothing new for me,” explains the 22-year-old player, who lives in La Courneuve in Seine-Saint-Denis.
After decades of amateurism despite an Elite Championship of 12 teams, competition from rugby union, the practice of which is more developed in France, the arrival of professional American football in France is happening slowly but in the “ideal” city, according to Maxime Roger.
The 27-year-old engineer played American football in several French clubs before arriving at the Mousquetaires when they were created in 2023. “It’s in Paris that the best players are found, it’s also where we can to have the most supporters behind us,” he explains to AFP.
Last year, the club was able to count on an average of 3,867 spectators at home with a record of 4,500. Given the success, the club opened the second side stand of Jean-Bouin.
The club’s stated objective is to reach the play-offs this season, which the Parisians narrowly missed last year with a record of 6 wins and 6 losses, the best of the new structures entering the competition in 2023.
