“The Famous Five” was initially just a small football show on youtube. Over the years, its protagonists have spread to major media outlets. Walid Acherchour and Elton Mokolo on RMC Sport, Romain Beddouk on France Bleu, Maya Amrouche on Prime Video, Najim Medini, Najib Terzi and Hugo Cappelaere on Canal +, and Sébastien Ferreira in the sports department of Figaro are all examples of the “Club des 5” touch in French football journalism.
The “CD5″, a training center? The image does not enchant Samuel Vaslin, one of the founders of the program: ” Our goal, in the long term, is to be a production company on the Internet, or even on TV.. » As a true football fan, he offers another metaphor: « We started as a Regional 1 club (sixth level), I won’t say that we are now in Ligue 1, but let’s say in National (third level), and not far from Ligue 2. »
The story begins on a student radio station, VL Radio, in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. Samuel Vaslin, Romain Beddouk, Walid Acherchour and Bilal Achour-Tani met there between 2015 and 2017. They were journalism or communications students and, at the same time, columnists on the radio’s football show. In 2017, they proposed their own project: the “Club des 5”.
Why 5? Because they consider that in France, the media focuses too much on Ligue 1 and not enough on the other four major championships (England, Spain, Italy, Germany). It was felt that there was not enough debate regarding the European championships while the rising generation was much more interested in them than in Ligue 1.explains Walid Acherchour. We wanted to go and find this niche on digital, Ligue 1 plus the four other major championships. »
“A TV show not on TV”
The realization of their project is quite laborious. With first rather low audiences, then a brutal divorce with VL Radio. The production company that produced the show welcomed them for a while before they found a filming studio in Pantin.
« The goal was to make a TV show not on TV.says Samuel Vaslin. We had all just finished our studies and joined the editorial staff through the back door, we saw how a show was built and that it was feasible with young people. The four founders set out to find journalism students and recent graduates to support them. They said to themselves: ” We will train them in the profession, continue to learn ourselves, and develop a structure that will eventually hold up on a daily basis. »
Farez Hachem, 26, a graduate of the European Institute of Journalism but already in the process of changing his career, joined ” by friendship » the “CD5” adventure in 2017. He became editor-in-chief, director, and occasional graphic designer for the show. He quickly had a slew of editorial assistants under his responsibility.
« In 2019, I applied to the TF1 foundation to do a Master’s degree in work-study with the Téléfoot team, remembers Farez Hachem. I had an interview with Marc Ambrosiano, the editor-in-chief of Téléfoot, who explained to me: “You don’t realize it, but in fact, you manage a team bigger than mine!” » The scholarship escapes him. Farez Hachem continues his journey between a stable job during the week (education assistant then CPE in middle school-high school) and a « activity passion » the weekend.
“Something that suited our generation”
Little by little, the editorial assistants who came to improve their skills alongside him gained more freelance work in large editorial offices. I also had opportunities, he addsbut it would have been necessary to start once more from a little lower, scraping together 700, 800 euros of freelance work except that I was already at 1800 euros with my work as a CPE and I might not afford to go back down. »
The target audience from the start, young, passionate regarding major championships, is getting used to consuming content dedicated to football on YouTube. The speakers on set develop a real knowledge of the major European clubs but also of « chills teams » of the moment, like the Italians of Sassuolo trained by Roberto De Zerbi. They are also interested in the African Cup of Nations from 2019, while the competition is little covered by the French media.
They know their subject and talk regarding it in a fresher, less formatted tone than on the radio or TV. We arrived neither too early nor too latebelieves Romain Beddouk, It allowed us to do something that suited our generation.”
Tampon
The tone of the “Club of 5” ” is now sought following by major editorial offices. RMC has thus integrated Walid Acherchour into its new program: “Génération After”. ” The idea of ”Génération After” was to bring out new voices that grew up listening to “L’After”, the reference for football broadcasts, explains Jimmy Braun, head of editing on the program. We needed people who were passionate but also ultra-sharp. Walid is impressive: he devours football morning, noon and night. He watches, reads and listens to everything! He brings something to the air with a kind of crazy passion! »
Walid Acherchour’s success allows him to push his colleague from the “Club des 5”, Elton Mokolo, who also begins working for RMC Sport. “Le Club des 5″ is a network, but also a quality label: ” I work at Infosport + and at the beginning, as soon as there was a potential intern or work-study student with the “Club des 5” on their CV, my bosses would come and get me to ask my opinion, raconte Romain Beddouk. Today, they don’t do it anymore. As if they knew that if it has the “Club des 5” stamp, it should be pretty interesting. It’s super rewarding. »
The “CD5” adventure is far from over. The headliners are still there, and there are starting to be some small inflows of money. In addition to the original show, the “Club des 5” channel has recently made a name for itself by publishing very long video interviews with football players and coaches. Emerse Faé, coach of a Côte d’Ivoire that was recently crowned African champion in 2024, thus granted his first interview in France at the “Club of 5”.
These new formats, registered, allow to have smaller and now well-established squads. Because even when working elsewhere, the players trained in “CD5” return to their training club, like Sébastien Ferreira: “It’s not for the money that I’m going back, but because it’s perhaps what fulfills me the most. The feeling of doing this job in a beautiful, honorable way.”
