He is not yet thirty years old and yet it is he who will hold the microphone of Canal + to comment on the most watched match of the year, the OM-PSG clasico. Journalist Paul Tchoukriel is unknown to the general public and will remain so for a while. The encrypted channel does not wish to communicate around him. A rather logical decision in this period of uncertainty around the future of French football TV rights.
Internally, Paul Tchoukriel is described as “hard-working, straightforward, kind and not at all careerist. He traces his path ”. Clearly, he did nothing to take the place of the star commentator, Stéphane Guy, dismissed last month for a sentence of support for Sébastien Thoën, another member of the channel dismissed for having participated in a parody of a show by CNews.
Tchoukriel is a “Canal + baby” who has made all his class in the group. After a double degree in History and Political Science at the University of the Sorbonne (Paris Ve), he joined the Practical Institute of Journalism in 2014. His training led him to work alternately on the encrypted channel where he went. work your way up. This season, he has commented on many matches alongside Sidney Govou, Mickaël Landreau or Habib Beye. The eviction of Stéphane Guy offers him the best posters offered by the channel.
But the particularity of Paul Tchoukriel is that he almost found himself not behind the microphone but on the ground. He was close to becoming a professional footballer since he was at the AS Nancy Lorraine training center and played his last match between the Lorraine reserve and that of… PSG on May 1, 2011.
But Nancy did not offer him a pro contract. His brother Simon had the same journey with the Lyon training center, before leaving for the USA where he shot a documentary on American football.
“His voice will improve”
Laurent Bonadéi, former PSG U19 manager between 2015 and 2019 and now assistant to Hervé Renard, the Saudi Arabia coach, was his last coach in Nancy. “He did his pre-training in Lyon where he was from the Lacazette or Grenier generation before going to Nancy,” he recalls. He was an attacking midfielder, slender and slender, who just lacked speed. But above all, he was a very intelligent guy, who had graduated from high school. “
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Bonadéi also saw him as another fate. “He was bright, lively and loved football. I was sure he had everything to become an international referee. Or else sports director. His success as a journalist does not surprise me. Some time ago, he commented on a Montpellier match and I found myself listening only to him. Everything was fair and benevolent. He is still young but his voice will improve and he will become one of the best. He will not take himself for another on the pretext that he is commenting on OM-PSG. Paul is too smart for that. “
Article original de: www.leparisien.fr
