Pascal Nouma, 52, a former French striker who played for PSG before becoming a star in Türkiye, played a season at OM in 2001-2002. The start of a very complicated period during which he had to fight against cancer. While continuing to play at the start of his illness.
Pascal Nouma's career, like his life, does not resemble a long, quiet river. Between his debut at PSG in the early 90s and a final (and brief) experience in Scotland, the former French striker multiplied the escapades such as goals and Ligue 1 clubs (PSG, Lille, Strasbourg, Lens, OM) . The bad boy has especially become a star in Türkiye after two very notable stints at Besiktas Istanbul. The player with a strong character, party animal and willingly provocative made less of an impression on his return to France, at Olympique de Marseille in 2001. The Marseille club was then going through a severe crisis. Bad results, failed comeback of Bernard Tapie, overloaded squad… Nothing is going well at OM. Nothing is going well for Pascal Nouma either.
“I was told that I had muscle cancer and then I burst out laughing”
After having a cyst “as big as a golf ball” removed from the back of his neck, he is summoned by his doctor. “I was told that I had muscle cancer and then I burst out laughing,” he confided in a long interview with Ouest-France. “I didn't take it seriously. For eight months, I was at the Nice clinic. Chemotherapy, radiotherapy… I played 11 matches at OM with cancer! I always felt tired, I didn't didn't understand because I was coming off a great season with Besiktas. Doctor Gaillaud told me: 'I don't know how you managed to play with cancer.' The club was not aware, medical confidentiality, the doctor said I had an ankle problem…”
“Bernard Tapie comes into the locker room and says: 'Pascal Nouma has cancer of the skull, he's going to die!'”
Except that his illness is starting to become known. “Bernard Tapie comes into the locker room and says: 'Pascal Nouma has cancer of the skull, he is going to die!'”, he continues. The former striker remembers that Besiktas fans, aware of his cancer, demanded his return. “They shouted my name at every match. They went to the club headquarters, protested. 'We want Pascal Nouma to come back, if he has to die, he has to die in Turkey!' The fans burned the front of the headquarters of the club sent a doctor to France A week later, he said on Turkish TV: 'Pascal Nouma will not play for Besiktas again, because he could die at any moment.'”
“Like swimming across the Atlantic”
Back in Istanbul after eight months of therapy, Pascal Nouma will return to the field but not in shape. At least not right away. “I had to relearn how to play football. It was like swimming across the Atlantic,” he summarizes before concluding: “I learned the seriousness of my cancer two years ago: we told me that 98% of people with my disease succumb.”
