How did your arrival at Stade de Reims go?
"In a very classic way, with no surprises! I was really proud to be given the opportunity to sign for Ligue 1 Uber Eats, especially Stade de Reims, a club with a great history. Everything has gone really well since I arrived. There are a lot of good people in the group, so I was very well received and quickly integrated."

What convinced you about the club's project?
"A lot of things! First of all, it's a club that has been stabilising for several seasons now in Ligue 1 Uber Eats and that now aims to play in the top half of the table. Then, from a personal point of view, they offered me the role of an 'old hand' who mentors the youngsters to some extent. It's a role and a project that corresponded to what I was looking for for the rest of my career."

You've had an unusual career. Can you tell us about your early career?
"It was in Hyères that things really started for me. I spent my best years there. I spent all my youth there. I learnt everything there and was able to play all the way up to the CFA (4th division). It's true that I've had an unusual career. It's all the more of an achievement for me to be where I am today. I haven't done anything in Ligue 1 Uber Eats yet, but when I see all the stages I've been through, I feel very proud."

'I worked for my father's company for just over a year'

After Hyères, you signed for Boulogne-sur-Mer, in the French national league, and then Red Star, with whom you entered the professional world in 2018. How do you explode onto the footballing scene at the age of 24?
"I don't know the secret! If someone had told me I'd be where I am today, I'd have found it hard to imagine. But in the end it happened naturally, with hard work and self-confidence. I've always wanted to succeed in football and it's always been part of my mentality to always want more. When I signed my first professional contract, even though it was a childhood dream, I didn't want to stop there, I wanted even more. And, despite my age, that's still the case today. I always want to keep progressing and growing. Honestly, it may sound crazy but, at the moment, it still hasn't sunk in that I'm a professional footballer!"

Why is that?
"Maybe it's because I've been through just about every stage of the game that I still don't realise it. I've gone from CFA to National, from National to Ligue 2 BKT, from Ligue 2 BKT to Belgian D2, from Belgian D2 to D1, from D1 to the Europa League... Sometimes I meet young people in the street who want to take a photo with me or who say to themselves: "Wow, that's a professional player", whereas a few years ago I was the one in their shoes. It's hard for me to realise that I'm in the professional world, I never really got the hang of it... In fact, I've always kept in mind that anything can happen overnight. That allows me to enjoy everything I'm experiencing today. I don't tell myself that I've 'arrived', I don't want to rest on my laurels."

Alongside your late arrival at the top level, you also worked as a delivery driver for the family butcher's shop, as we saw when you announced your arrival at Stade de Reims...
"Yes, I was 19-20 and still in the CFA. Even though I've always been ambitious, I've always had a good head on my shoulders. I realised that I was at an age where it was going to get harder and harder to become a professional. So I stopped studying. In the education my father gave me, it was out of the question for me to stay at home and do nothing, knowing that football still didn't allow me to make a decent living. Without going so far as to say that it was an obligation, given my upbringing, it was logical to go to work. So I worked for my father's company for just over a year."

On the advice of your coach at the time, right?
"Yes, André Blanc, the coach who started me in the CFA at Hyères, encouraged me to make that choice. He told me it would toughen me up and make me more mature. At the time, I didn't really understand what he was telling me. Paradoxically, just when I thought I had less energy on the pitch because of work, I had my best season in CFA, the one that allowed me to take off. Then, at the end of the season, I received an offer to move to Boulogne-sur-Mer in the French National League. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but I took the risk. I went far away from home, far from my family cocoon, to try and succeed in football. Today, I think I can say that it was the right choice."

In January 2019, you joined Union Saint-Gilloise, in the Belgian D2...
"You should know that I had refused to join them six months earlier. I'd just finished as national champion with Red Star and moved up to Ligue 2 BKT. I was finally going to enter the professional world. I didn't feel like going abroad and I wanted to see what this Ligue 2 was like, which was my childhood dream, so I turned down the offer. Six difficult months followed, both collectively and personally. We were playing for survival, it wasn't very exciting and I didn't take it very well. The string of defeats, the changes of coach, the atmosphere... It was very difficult and I was enjoying it a lot less."

What happened next?
"I was lucky that the Union came back to get me in January. I'd obviously been following their results since the previous summer, and I saw that they'd beaten Genk and Anderlecht to qualify for the Belgian Cup semi-finals. The project that the directors had presented to me six months earlier, and which I hadn't believed in, was indeed solid. Something was in the making. They hadn't sold me a dream, so I listened to them again and this time I went for it. I wasn't very confident because, even if it's 'just' Belgium, I was going to change country and join a new championship. In the end, it turned out to be the best choice of my career because, for the time being, I've spent my best years in Belgium."

'The armband helped me contain myself'

At that time, the team was coached by Luka Elsner, a coach whose path you will cross again this season when you take on Le Havre. How important was he to your success in Belgium?
"He was an essential part of my move to Union. I had a long talk with him because I didn't want to arrive at a club where the coach didn't know my qualities or my strong temperament [smiles]. I wanted the coach to know who I was and, after that phone call, I realised that he was passionate and that he wanted me because of what I could bring to his team. We didn't get to work together for very long, but he was a very professional and determined coach in everything he did. Today I can compare him to Will Still. They're determined, passionate young coaches who want to learn and grow along with their players."

How did you manage to find this stability at the Union?
"Because I arrived as an important player, I quickly settled into the team. In Belgium, I also discovered a more attractive style of football than I'd seen in the past. It was a much more open style of football, with more action and more goals, and I wouldn't go so far as to say that I learnt to love football all over again, but almost. Because I was going through a phase where I was enjoying myself a lot less with Red Star, I found a positive dynamic again in Belgium. The league matched the kind of football I like, which allowed me to develop 100%."

You even began to captain the team at the end of the 2019-20 season, before becoming fully captain the following season. What has this new role brought you?
"Wisdom. Before that, because I'm a bit sanguine and 'crazy', even though I had a leadership role, there was nothing to 'keep me on a leash' to avoid crossing the line. The armband helped me to contain myself and manage my emotions a little better because, as captain, your job is to steer the ship, not sink it. It wasn't easy at first, and I had to make a few mistakes to learn."

What do you mean by that?
"All it took was for us to lose or for things to go wrong for me to lose my concentration and flow. So I'd become even more useless than the rest of the team and, instead of helping them, I'd sink them. When I got the armband, I learnt that when things weren't going my way, it was up to me to pull myself up by my bootstraps and do everything I could to turn the situation around. Little by little, I got used to the role and I managed to become the captain that the Union was waiting for."

>> READ: One to Watch: The rise and rise of Reims midfielder Teddy Teuma

'Whatever I do, I want to be the best'

Making you more responsible was a very good idea...
"Of course it was! That's what I had been waiting for. I've always been a leader and I've often been captain at youth level. It's a role I've always enjoyed and one that's made me proud. It's not just about looking good in photos or saying I'm captain, it's something that really matters to me. In any case, the more responsibility I'm given, the better I am. That's really what I needed."

You've also discovered that you're a good goalscorer and assist provider?
"[Laughs] That was due to the fact that the league was much more open, with lots of transitions and actions. In four and a half years, if I drew just four games 0-0, that's a miracle. There were always goals, goals, goals... So, automatically, I found myself scoring more often and making more assists."

You've spoken several times about your personality. Can you tell us more about your main character traits?
"I'd say it's all about my being a bad loser. I want to win every game, whether it's a friendly, the league or the cup. That's what I want to pass on to every club I play for. When I was at Union, it didn't matter what was at stake, I wanted to win and I think I ended up instilling that in others. I can even say that it became our strength, because when we arrived in the Europa League, nobody saw us taking a point, but I kept repeating that we were going to play every game to win them, whether it was Barcelona or another team we were up against. In the end, that got us all the way to the quarter-finals. That's my character: to win! I'm not saying that we're going to be champions with Reims, but whether it's Paris or a low-ranked team, I want to win. Even when I play against England or Italy with Malta, who are still a small nation, I attack the match to win. After that, things don't always go my way, and that's something I find hard to accept."

What do you mean by that?
"Even if I lose to a much stronger opponent, I find it hard to accept. Defeat is difficult for me. To go back to the season when we were playing for survival with Red Star and we kept losing, it was frustrating and it made me unhappy. I couldn't help it, but it was something I couldn't accept. Fortunately, I've learnt and matured a lot on that point, but it's still part of me. For example, if we play a game of cards and I lose, I'm not going to smash everything up of course, but when I get home I'm definitely going to go and practise so I don't lose the next time. It's in my nature. When I was a delivery driver, it was the same. I wasn't content just to deliver, I wanted to be the best. Whatever I do, I want to be the best. Mind you, I'm not saying I'm the best at football, but I do everything I can to be the best."

'I ended up feeling the need to express myself'

How does that translate into your day-to-day life as a footballer?
"If I come up against the goalkeeper in a match and lose that one-on-one, you can be sure that the following week I'm going to do something specific with the goalkeeper. In my head, if I don't succeed, it's not ok and I'm not going to leave the pitch before I've succeeded. I've got loads of examples. When I was a kid, I used to play pétanque against my father and I found it hard to beat him. As a result, I spent all afternoon, until maybe 21:00, shooting boules to improve. That's the way I am."

Your comments in the dressing room were often highlighted on Union's social networks. How did that come about?
"I'm not someone who talks a lot in the dressing room and, before Union, I didn't speak out, but over there it came naturally. Before the match or during the warm-up, I'd let the assistant coaches or some of the players speak, because I liked to hear what everyone had to say, to feel the atmosphere and the concentration building up. But when we all got together before going out for kick-off, I ended up feeling the need to express myself. Then I saw that my team-mates were listening to me, that it was having an impact and that some of them were even telling me that I had done the right thing by speaking up at that moment. So I started giving these speeches more and more often, until it became a habit."

When you're speaking so often, how do you manage to keep up the pace?
"Of course, every week you have to be able to give a different speech, but one that's as compelling as ever. That was my little extra work for the week. I'd try to take inspiration from the opposition or what I'd seen in training to motivate the troops. Little everyday things could also give me ideas, such as injuries to certain players. I spoke in my own way. I could make strong statements or use swear words. That's why I didn't like it too much when it came out on the networks, because I could say some pretty salty stuff. It's not that I was disrespectful to my opponents, but it was a speech that was intended to motivate my team-mates, in the dressing room, and out of context, it could perhaps come as a surprise. Incidentally, I saw that my former team-mate Anthony Moris had taken over the armband at the Union and before the first game of the season, against Anderlecht, he gave a pre-match speech. Maybe that means I've inspired other players."

Do you remember one speech in particular?
"Before a Champions League match, I created a bit of a buzz. I motivated the group by talking about my past as a delivery driver, and it got a lot of coverage. It's a point I brought up because I wasn't the only one with an atypical background, having worked and experienced a world different from that of football. I wanted to remind the team that we were going to play in a Champions League play-off, that we had no pressure, that we had nothing to lose, and that we had to realise how lucky we were to be there. The idea was: 'Look where you were and look where you are now'. In the end, we won the match 2-0. I'm not saying it was thanks to my speech, but there you go... [laughs]."

Stay tuned for Pt II... tomorow!

>> PLAYER PROFILE: Teddy Teuma