Former France international Jean-Alain Boumsong.

By Sports Reporter/Doha

While he was strong, fast and uncompromising on the pitch in a successful career for France and Rangers, Juventus and Lyon amongst others, Jean-Alain Boumsong is inspirational, light-hearted and filled with surprising anecdotes in an interview chair. And there are two topics which he talks about with particular passion – the Old Firm derby in Scotland and the World Cup.
“It is very special to play the Old Firm derby,” Boumsong told www.sc.qa. “Probably the best derby in the world. I played for Lyon, Juventus, Panathinaikos, Newcastle, but all the people in the stands are standing and singing the same songs. It is impressive. Your teammate can be two meters away from you but he can’t hear you if you speak to him because the noise level is so high. Rangers will immediately bounce back and compete against Celtic. If they come back to the SPL they will have to win. But to lose against Celtic: unacceptable. Some fans even choose to lose the championship but to win the old firm derbies.”
The former France international also has fond memories of watching the FIFA World Cup as a child. It was his country of birth, Cameroon, which had a lasting effect on him when Roger Milla and his teammates surprised the world in 1990 by reaching the quarter-finals. Boumsong was clearly inspired by the first African team to reach that stage. “In Cameroon when the national team plays the country stops. Everybody is watching the game and there’s no other activity. It’s not very good for the economy either,” he joked.
After making his debut for France in 2003, Boumsong was part of the French squad at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, and he has a surprising anecdote from that tournament: “We struggled to qualify from the group stage and then we played against Spain. Before the game the Spanish were saying that Zinedine Zidane will retire after that game. We ended up beating them, and Zidane was very, very good in that match. After that game it was the first time I saw Zidane like a kid. He was jumping on the table dancing like you probably won’t see him. He was happy like a teenager. It was one of the best joys in my career.”
The well-travelled French defender also played for teams in Greece, the United Kingdom and his native France, and his globetrotting career has convinced him that the World Cup deserves to come to the Arab and Muslim world for the first time: “Football is worldwide and the World Cup is the biggest event in football and in sports. It’s good to have it in different countries and continents, and I think that will help.”
A convert to Islam, Boumsong also discussed the all-encompassing power of the game on a visit to the offices of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy in Doha, saying: “Football has no religion, we’re just human beings. We are opponents during the game but at the end of the game we are all the same. We can all live together with sport and especially football; because the World Cup is one of the most important events in the world and it has the ability to unify people.”
Finally, Boumsong may have never worn the jersey of Paris Saint-Germain, but he’s well aware of the changes they’ve brought to French football. Formerly of Olympique Lyonnais and Auxerre, PSG rivals for Ligue 1 during his playing days, Boumsong is a veteran of the French league and says that the level of the competition is rapidly improving: “The image of Qatar is getting better and better, especially in France with PSG. It’s a very good thing for French football to have PSG owned by Qatar. They bring very good players and raise the level and profile of the domestic game. It was the best place for Qatar to invest. Paris is known as the best city in the world. They will give the highest image of Qatar in France and even in Europe.”