{"id":476054,"date":"2026-02-15T07:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T07:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/476054\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T07:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T07:27:14","slug":"timothee-chalamet-the-soccer-years-im-sure-his-dream-was-to-become-a-professional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/476054\/","title":{"rendered":"Timothee Chalamet \u2013 the soccer years: \u2018I\u2019m sure his dream was to become a professional\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cHe was always a performer. I have really great memories of going on little tournament away trips, staying in the hotel, and he\u2019d be just entertaining everybody. He\u2019d have everyone, from 12-year-old kids to adults, cracking up and laughing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe always had a real energy and curiosity that I think really translates well to acting. When you were with him, he was always so fun. You were always laughing so much. I think you can see that still, he\u2019s just a guy who\u2019s got this energy for life that\u2019s infectious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Muyl, who plays for Major League soccer club Nashville SC, is regaling The Athletic with his memories of growing up with Timothee Chalamet, the international man of the moment \u2014 and a candidate for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Marty Supreme.<\/p>\n

But Muyl knew him when he was much younger. Back then, the pair, who both have French fathers, were close childhood friends, spending summers together in France. They were also teammates at the same soccer club in New York, the Manhattan Kickers.<\/p>\n

Muyl says he feels proud to see the career trajectory of his friend. His performance in Marty Supreme has already seen him pick up a Golden Globe and Critics\u2019 Choice Award for best actor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s surreal, which I\u2019m sure it sometimes is for him,\u201d Muyl says during a break from Nashville SC\u2019s preseason camp in Florida. \u201cI think that you can tell from the way he conducts himself and the way that he is, he\u2019s super down-to-earth. He\u2019s just like a regular guy, and I think people really connect with that. It\u2019s been really cool to watch, and it\u2019s fun to follow along as a fan as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Muyl, who was the outstanding player at Manhattan Kickers, met Chalamet when he joined the team aged around 10, and they struck up a friendship straight away, helped by their French heritage. There\u2019s a video that\u2019s circulated online of the pair dancing along to \u2018Crank That\u2019 by Soulja Boy.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Theo Von podcast in 2024<\/a>, Chalamet described Muyl as \u201cjust gifted, he\u2019s a foot Mozart. It\u2019s tough, you know, I had to work my a*** off, and if you don\u2019t have the gift of physical talent, of athleticism, you\u2019re cooked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chalamet was a goalkeeper for much of his time at Manhattan Kickers, but also played as a midfielder. He stopped playing for the club at around the age of 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was always technical, with good feet, and then as a goalkeeper, a good shot stopper, with really good reactions,\u201d Muyl says. \u201cAs he still had that technical base, he was able to control the game with his feet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a super bubbly and energetic kid with a magnetic personality,\u201d Dorian Wirz, another former Manhattan Kickers teammate, tells The Athletic. \u201cHe always knew how to connect with people, whether it was adults or different types of kids on the team. He had a ton of charisma and was really motivated by being in the thick of things. He really fed off energy and wasn\u2019t shy to be front and centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a player, he was slower to develop physically, but was tricky on the ball and good with his feet. But the goals got bigger before he did, so he moved to playing outfield \u2014 left midfield, I think. His dad (Marc) was much more soccer-focused, and his mom (Nicole) was much more acting-focused, so his dad was the one who really took him to games and was invested.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Chalamet (front, left) regularly played as a goalkeeper (Dorian Wirz)<\/p>\n

Asked about his acting career, Wirz adds: \u201cI can\u2019t say I saw this coming, but Timmy was a really savvy operator, knew how to read a room and endear himself to folks. He was a charmer, he definitely had some of that it factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The boys\u2019 coach at the time was Angel Planells, who now lives in Seattle. \u201cI had a very special team of kids with the Manhattan Kickers,\u201d he says to The Athletic. \u201cTimothee was a talented kid, but he was on the small side. He was a great teammate and a fun kid, his parents were very lovely.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe played goalkeeper, plus midfield. He would play in goal for half a game, then play outfield for the other half of the game, and he didn\u2019t mind it. He would sometimes get lobbed, though, because he wasn\u2019t the tallest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I see him on TV, I tell my children, \u2018I coached that kid when he was younger.\u2019 It brings joy to my face because it\u2019s like, \u2018I was a part of this kid\u2019s childhood.\u2019 It\u2019s the same with Alex (Muyl), I could tell Alex was going to be special when he was younger.\u201d<\/p>\n

As their friendship grew and they bonded over their French roots, Chalamet and Muyl spent two summer vacations playing at the Bernard Bosquier Football Academy summer camp in Cavaillon, about an hour north of Marseille, in the south of France.<\/p>\n

In a previous interview with ParisMatch.com<\/a>, Chalamet spoke about spending his summers as a child in the village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, in Haute-Loire, where his paternal grandparents, Roger and Jean, lived. He still visits the village, making a trip, according to the Daily Mail, with his girlfriend Kylie Jenner in summer 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was through his father Marc, who worked as the New York correspondent for Le Parisien newspaper, that Chalamet developed a lifelong affinity for French side AS Saint-Etienne. Saint-Etienne are a prestigious club who have been crowned champions of France 10 times. They reached the European Cup final in 1976, losing to Bayern Munich, but have fallen on hard times more recently. They are currently third in France\u2019s second-tier league, Ligue 2, hoping to return to the top flight.<\/p>\n

Referencing that last month, Chalamet told French magazine Paris Match<\/a>: \u201cIt (2026) has started pretty well, I am very lucky. But for 2026 to be truly perfect, Saint-Etienne will have to be promoted back to Ligue 1 next season.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another recent video that was posted online<\/a>, Chalamet was asked by a fan to sign a Lyon shirt, who have a fierce rivalry with Saint-Etienne in France. Chalamet replied by writing \u2018A bas Lyon!\u2019 which translates as \u2018down with Lyon!\u2019<\/p>\n

Well-known Saint-\u00c9tienne fan Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet was handed a jersey of Les Verts’ arch-rivals, Lyon. The actor’s response?<\/p>\n

“I’m going to write: ‘Down with Lyon.'”pic.twitter.com\/sdcW9wRTXu<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Get French Football News (@GFFN) February 5, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

In a separate interview with Nardwuar the Human Serviette<\/a> last year, Chalamet showed his passion for soccer when he revealed how, when he visited France as a boy, he used to ride after the Saint-Etienne team on his bicycle: \u201cI used to chase the team\u2026 Bafetimbi Gomis, Dimitri Payet, it was that generation of Saint-Etienne players. I\u2019m a big Saint-Etienne fan. They\u2019re probably the team I support the most in the world, better than the New York Knicks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gomis, a former France international striker who started his career at Saint-Etienne, tells The Athletic he felt proud when he saw he\u2019d been name-checked by the famous actor: \u201cI was happy, because I was an important member of the Saint-Etienne team. We always tried to understand the value of the club, to give happiness to the people, because Saint-Etienne is an historic club.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so proud, I haven\u2019t met Timothee yet, but I would like to one day. It surprised me, because it\u2019s very difficult to see the new generation, someone famous, supporting Saint-Etienne.<\/p>\n

\u201cTimothee seems proud to support Saint-Etienne. I think the club should work with him, to make something of it, because of his popularity. He can inspire the next generation of Saint-Etienne fans, which is amazing. He is very famous but seems to keep his humility. I really like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

There could be a connection between Chalamet\u2019s attitude and the city of the soccer team he supports. Gomis characterises it as \u201ca city where the people fight, they are very humble.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the soccer camp Chalamet attended with Muyl, coach Nicolas Bosquier recalled the future actor\u2019s passion for Saint-Etienne.<\/p>\n

\u201cTimothee was one of the first American children to attend the academy,\u201d he told The Athletic. \u201cWe now welcome around 100 American children every summer out of a total of 800. I remember that he always wore an AS Saint-Etienne jersey.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a very well-mannered boy with perfect French and that slight accent that makes Americans so endearing when they speak French. He was a very good teammate, always ready to help and very, very passionate about soccer. I think that if you ask him, I\u2019m sure his dream at this time\u00a0was to become a professional soccer player.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was kind of a vacation, but with soccer as the background,\u201d Muyl added. \u201cIt was so fun. His French was always better than mine, so he was kind of like translating for me, and we were meeting all these kids. It was a really, really good time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Chalamet has been nominated for an Academy Award for his role in Marty Supreme (Kevin Winter\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Those summers spent at soccer camp in France were not the friends\u2019 only overseas trips together.<\/p>\n

During their time at Manhattan Kickers, they also took part in matches against teams from Brazil and England. That included a game against a Charlton Athletic youth side featuring Joe Gomez, who now plays for Liverpool, as part of the South London side\u2019s pre-season plans.<\/p>\n

A photo of the boys from both teams, including Chalamet and Gomez, was posted on Manhattan Kickers\u2019 social media accounts last year by Evan Rosenthal, president of the club, and went viral.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe\u2019s academy team was a particularly good one,\u201d Dave Chatwin, former lead youth development phase coach at Charlton, tells The Athletic. \u201cSo I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if we took them to the sword! It was just one of those really good age groups, where we had a lot of young stars in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That included the likes of Kasey Palmer, who has played for a host of teams in the Championship \u2014 the division below the Premier League \u2014 Charlie Colkett, who also played professional football in the leagues below the Premier League, and Ryan Huddart, who played for Arsenal Under-23s before becoming a football agent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember that trip a lot, it was a great trip,\u201d Muyl said. \u201cI remember going there and being like, \u2018Oh, this is my chance maybe to go over to an academy in England\u2019. I don\u2019t know if that was ever what the situation was. I remember feeling like I wasn\u2019t standing out in the way that I generally do.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were staying in a hotel, and we weren\u2019t with our parents, just kids in the room. There was tea in the room, but I didn\u2019t know it was caffeinated tea. And so at night we would just be drinking this tea with sugar and milk, so I wasn\u2019t sleeping at all, I wasn\u2019t playing my best. I was hardly sleeping more than one hour a night because we were pounding this tea, we were like, \u2018It\u2019s so good!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t feel I performed that well, but it was so fun to be in a different place with the guys and to see the level of competition \u2014 it was super high.\u201d<\/p>\n

At youth football level, that was an elite test for Chalamet, Muyl and Co. Now 30, Chalamet is on the cusp of truly marking his place in the elite of his chosen \u2014 and very different \u2014 career.<\/p>\n