The 32-year-old Moroccan international was the mainstay of a defence that conceded only 21 goals and managed 12 clean sheets as Reims made light of the summer departures of Björn Engels to Aston Villa and goalkeeper Edouard Mendy to Rennes. Between the sticks, Predrag Rajkovic, acquired from Maccabi Tel Aviv, was magnificent, Axel Disasi came through strongly at centre-half and Hassane Kamara excelled at left-back or further forward in midfield.

But holding David Guion's defensive masterplan together was the ultra-consistent Abdelhamid, named in the team of the Ligue 1 Conforama season by the Le Beau Jeu podcast pundits. Outstanding in 2018-2019, Abdelhamid was even better in the truncated 2019-2020 season.

Exuding calm authority, the vice-captain helped inspire Reims to a sixth-placed finish, an improvement of two spots on the previous campaign. Abelhamid hasn't missed a single league minute for Reims since January 2018, when the club were still in Ligue 2, and has played the full 90 minutes in a remarkable 66 consecutive Ligue 1 Conforama matches.

Record in sights for marathon man

Abdelhamid, signed from Dijon in 2017, is closing on on the top division record of 80 full matches in a row played by Zoumana Camara for PSG between 2007 and 2009. Fabrice Abriel is second on the list with his 76 straight games for Lorient between 2006 and 2008. The modest Abdelhamid commented in March: "A lot of people have talked to me about the record but it's not something I'm paying a lot of attention to. Of course it's satisfying for me to see there are only two players in front of me on the list. We'll see if I'm capable of overhauling them. But if I start to have such an objective in mind then I run the risk of not performing as well."

Should PSG win both Cup finals then Reims will return to European competition for the first time in 57 years. Should it happen then Abdelhamid is in line for a key role, having extended his contract by two years in February to take him through to 2022. The announcement on Reims' official outlets was original and amusing as Abdelhamid got a +2 card in a game of Uno  with club president Jean-Pierre Caillot.

Abdelhamid, born in Montpellier, commented: "If I'd listened to certain outside observers then I should have moved closer to my family or gone abroad. To tell you the truth, I didn't have to do much thinking before signing, it's something that happened naturally. I'm in a privileged situation here as the coach, his staff and the board have faith in me. Staying was a wise choice. Reims has become my home and I don't want to leave."

"Yunis proves you can improve at any age"

President Caillot added: "Yunis proves you can improve at any age. He's a real model for the young players at the club and a dressing room leader. Six months from the end of his deal and given his performances, he wasn't lacking offers. What made the difference was the mutual confidence between us. Yunis feels good at Reims and you can see that on and off the pitch. His extension shows we want to construct the future with players and men who incarnate our values: the experience of Yunis and his profile as a demanding competitor will still be precious to us in the seasons to come."

Reims fans will echo those sentiments and hope Abdelhamid can maintain his exalted standards in 2020-2021 when the 1956 and 1959 European Cup finalists might be back on the continental trail.