{"id":893514,"date":"2026-10-24T23:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T23:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/893514\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T23:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T23:00:10","slug":"paris-musketeers-team-sees-nfl-game-as-a-chance-to-boost-american-football-in-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/893514\/","title":{"rendered":"Paris Musketeers team sees NFL game as a chance to boost American football in France"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARIS \u2013 Hugo Tekedam hopes Sunday\u2019s game between the New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> provides inspiration to French youngsters.<\/p>\n

Tekedam plays for the Paris Musketeers and though he\u2019s a star wide receiver, he knows he\u2019s probably past the point of having NFL dreams. But he\u2019s hopeful for the next generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity. You\u2019ve got to get the people interested,\u201d the 24-year-old Tekedam said.<\/p>\n

American football is barely on the French sports radar, which is dominated by soccer<\/a>. Other sports like rugby, basketball<\/a>, cycling and tennis also are popular.<\/p>\n

The Saints-Steelers game<\/a> could nudge the sport forward as well as shine a light on the Musketeers, who bill themselves as France\u2019s first fully professional American football team.<\/p>\n

The Musketeers play in the European Football Alliance, which recently completed its inaugural season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have experienced the last four years, once you get somebody interested, they remain interested,\u201d Musketeers general manager John Booker said. \u201cThey really enjoy the sport, they enjoy the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd obviously the NFL is the best in the world at that, in this sport, the atmosphere and everything that comes with it<\/a>,\u201d he added. \u201cSo I really believe the number one thing that\u2019s going to come out of this is awareness of the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

The French federation of American football has reported growth in recent years, but its number of clubs is in the hundreds. By comparison, France has an estimated 12,000 amateur soccer clubs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Start playing sooner<\/p>\n

Getting introduced to the sport at a younger age \u2014 even through flag football, which the NFL has heavily promoted internationally<\/a> \u2014 will lead to more U.S. college prospects, Booker said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAthletically, they just start the sport too late,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it\u2019s very important that we get guys playing earlier so that they do get those opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Booker, a former offensive lineman who played for San Jose State, said Tekedam \u201cdefinitely would have played college football if he grew up in America.\u201d Tekedam had eight touchdown receptions last season.<\/p>\n

Paris native Maceo Beard-Aigret, a safety, is on the Minnesota Vikings<\/a> practice squad through the league’s International Player Pathway program.<\/p>\n

French-born offensive lineman Isma\u00ebl Camara committed over the summer to play for Texas<\/a> next year.<\/p>\n

The Musketeers, founded in 2022, were coached by former NFL linebacker coach Jack Del Rio for the past two seasons, but his contract has expired.<\/p>\n

The EFA, which in late August appointed former NFL player Markus Kuhn<\/a> as president, is adding a new team \u2014 the London Guard \u2014 for its 2027 season, which begins next spring.<\/p>\n

Each team can have a limited number of Americans \u2014 the Musketeers’ quarterback last season was Zach Edwards, who played Division III college football in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

The imported players receive housing and expenses paid as well as 2,000 euros per month after taxes, Booker said.<\/p>\n

Another team, the Paris Lights, plays in a different league: the American Football League Europe.<\/p>\n

Soaking up opportunities<\/p>\n

What the French players lack in experience they make up for in enthusiasm, Booker said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe French players love the sport differently than the Americans do,\u201d he said. \u201cThe French guys, it\u2019s like they\u2019ve won the lottery. When they get a really good coach and they\u2019re able to learn more, they\u2019re so excited because they don\u2019t have that in their country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tekedam started playing the sport at age 12, but infrastructure and coaching were limited. Still, he excelled and enrolled at a prep school in Florida in hopes of playing for a U.S. college.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had some offers, but they weren\u2019t full rides,” he said. \u201cThey were partial offers. I couldn\u2019t afford the other part.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, he returned home to Paris and joined the Musketeers, who last year struck up a partnership with the Saints<\/a> in marketing and youth development.<\/p>\n

The French players typically have other jobs, too. Tekedam works as a football coach on the side and sees that as a long-term career path.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of kids have potential and talent,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m trying to work on that, to see where I can help them.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

\nSee AP\u2019s full NFL coverage here<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS \u2013 Hugo Tekedam hopes Sunday\u2019s game between the New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers provides inspiration to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":893515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,374597,374594,374596,374595,374598,3,99,452,453,374599],"class_list":["post-893514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-headlines","tag-hugo-tekedam","tag-jack-del-rio","tag-john-booker","tag-maceo-beard","tag-markus-kuhn","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-zach-edwards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=893514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/893515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=893514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=893514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=893514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}