CANAL+ – WEDNESDAY APRIL 10 AT 11:25 P.M. – COMPETITION
Commenting on a football match seems so easy… from your sofa! When the sports director of Canal+, Thomas Sénécal, chose to launch “At the microphone”, a sort of telecrochet in nine episodes, at the end of which the winner will join the team of football commentators, the group received more than 10,000 applications – including 200 from women.
An unexpected success for the channel, which wanted to mark the occasion after having acquired the broadcasting, from September, of all European competitions. But which complicated the selection to retain the thirty candidates participating in this first edition.
We also had to find the “right” jurors, with complementary profiles: Hervé Mathoux, emblematic host and editor-in-chief of “Canal Football Club” for fifteen years; Laure Boulleau, former Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Les Bleues player and consultant; David Ginola, former PSG player and best player in the Premier League in 1999.
As a bonus, the presentation is provided by stand-up artist Redouane Bougheraba, a true football enthusiast (he is from Marseille…), whose humor and sense of improvisation have their place here.
Skills of applicants
” Hey ! You might get a kichta [une liasse de billets de banque]. Considering how some people are dressed, they need it! », says Redouane Bougheraba to the ten candidates of the first episode – it is broadcast on Wednesday April 10 -, upon their arrival at the Parc des Princes, in Paris. They are aged 19 to 33, are bankers, salespeople, journalists, streamers, footballers or unemployed. Their names are Jordy, Tristan, Alexandre, Maël, Namnatta, Edouard, Steven, Arnaud, François, Jannique.
They will prepare for their audition (a fifty-second live commentary) in the locker rooms reorganized with their names where their match sheets await them. But first, the questions rain down on the candidates: “Who is OM’s top scorer in the Champions League? » “Where was Chelsea-Real first leg played in 2022? For what ? » More specific, about the Benfica club: “You must know the Béla Guttmann curse [l’entraîneur du club en 1962]…”
Without revealing the details of the services, the first surprise comes from the level of skill of the applicants. The second concerns the level of requirements required. While remaining smiling, the three coaches let nothing slip. Only David Ginola will applaud a performance once.
The harder it will be to select the four candidates still in the race. Including for the viewer, who is enthusiastic, but who regrets that the editing cut out the auditions. It will be the same for the rest in Marseille, Wednesday April 17, then in Lens, Wednesday April 24. Before – audience success helping, let’s have no doubt – correction for season 2.
“At the microphone”, competition presented by Redouane Bougheraba and directed by Matthieu Allard (Fr., 2024, 9 × 35 min). Broadcast every Wednesday on Canal+ and available in replay on MyCanal.