CAN 2022: "The power of football on people's happiness is incredible", says Yannick Noah

During the 2022 African Cup of Nations in Cameroon, Yannick Noah confided in the microphone of RFI in Yaoundé.

© Nicolas BAMBA - RFI

Text by: Annie Gasnier Follow |

Nicolas Bamba Follow

6 mins

Based in Cameroon, the country of his father, Yannick Noah vibrates for the African Cup of Nations (CAN 2022) which is held there.

A fervent supporter of the Indomitable Lions, the former tennis player hosted RFI exclusively at Village Noah, the property he has been building since the 1980s. Football, team spirit, winning, the dual French and Cameroonian culture... Confidences with the champion.

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From our special envoys in Yaoundé,

The CAN in Cameroon, fifty years later

A CAN in Cameroon is something you really have to experience, as long as you love the country and the Cameroonians.

During the last

here, in 1972, I was 12 years old.

I was going with my father to the stadium.

I have incredible memories of joy and enormous sadness when we lost in the semi-finals.

The little boy that I was really lived this CAN.

And today, 50 years later (laughs), nothing has changed.

Celebrating Africa

Here, football is really a religion, something that unites the country. When the team wins, it's happiness until the next round. The Cameroon team continues, there is an important match on Monday (January 24

in the round of 16). The whole country is behind. For now, the competition is going well, with the madness of sport, good teams being eliminated, small countries emerging. I dare to imagine the atmosphere there can be in the Comoros, in Cape Verde...

is all of Africa. It's a pretty popular festival.

The Noah family in 1983, during a trip to Yaoundé with President Mitterrand, at the height of Yannick's career.

On his left, his father Zacharie.

On his right, his grandfather Simon.

Pierre GUILLAUD / AFP

Football, provider of happiness

I try to participate, to be behind the Lions.

The idea is to send the best possible energies, good vibes.

I had contact with the team, with the coach a few weeks ago.

These are words of encouragement, parties often because we really like parties here.

It's all very natural to me.

I had the opportunity to go and see the last match (

) and the atmosphere is extraordinary.

I really like football, but atmospheres like that are very rare.

It's quite incredible, the power that football can have on people's happiness.

Not easy to support the Indomitable Lions

I have the jersey, I am fully behind the team.

But I find it difficult to watch the matches.

It's a pain for me.

I'm too tense, too invested.

That's why I almost prefer watching matches at home rather than at the stadium.

My stomach hurts, I'm not well.

Too much stress.

I suffered in the opening match... I suffer all the time!

(laughs) They played well, they finished first in the group.

Behind, we immediately go on with the party and there, I relax completely.

Denying the idea of ​​defeat

You can have this disorder, this toxic feeling of thinking about defeat.

To win, you have to think about victory, feed on images and visualize victory, on and off the field.

That's what carries the most.

A game is so short.

A match is also won before.

I do not envisage defeat.

You have to send good vibes and think only of victory.

Joy as an individual, then as a team

I had the chance to practice an individual sport.

I was also lucky to have a dad who played football.

When I was young, I told him that I missed my friends, the changing rooms... He made me understand that I was lucky, as a tennis player, to have my destiny in my hands and not to depend on anyone.

He made me realize that it was a rare chance.

“ 

 I quickly understood my luck.

But that frustration remained.

Yannick Noah, center, lifts the Davis Cup won as captain of the France team on November 26, 2017 in Lille.

AP - Christophe Ena

That's why then I stayed in tennis through the Davis Cup (captain from 1991 to 1992, from 1995 to 1998 and from 2016 to 2018).

In the Davis Cup, there is this feeling of team.

I put all this frustration at the service of the France team and this frustration has become a strength.

I loved gathering around a team.

These are extraordinary moments in my life.

Winning the Davis Cup with his friends, for his country, is extraordinary to experience.

I had my hour of glory at Roland-Garros and with the Davis Cup.

The feeling is equal.

The spirit of cohesion

During the CAN, we stay a month and a half cloistered, almost in a vacuum. This is where strength of character makes the difference. Seven matches – if we go all the way – that's a little over 10 hours of play. But the rest of the time, it's weeks, days, nights... That's where the competitions are win. Having healthy people at the heart of a group, having a group with good cohesion, that makes a difference.

It's a human adventure that is lived at 30. You can't single out one player over the others.

If a player scores a goal, it is thanks to the others.

And if we win thanks to a player who scores, it's because behind, we didn't concede a goal.

Or because we passed the ball at the right time.

It's a team sport.

We are talking about the Lions, a group where substitutes are also important.

All that makes the strength and the weakness of a group.

The love of France and Cameroon

I vibrate the same way. So I also suffer twice! I was in France in 1998 of course. It had been an extraordinary moment. I am sensitive. I remember the scenes of joy, of this energy for weeks. Even if it has faded over time, there is still a trace of those moments when, suddenly, thanks to the team or our Zizou, we finally agree. Even if it only lasts a minute, it's not bad. It inspired others. If we had not won this first World Cup (in 1998), we would not have won the second (in 2018).

I was moved when I sang the Marseillaise with my guys.

When I sing the Marseillaise, I sing my mom.

And when I sing the Cameroonian national anthem, I sing for dad.

They are there, in me.

There is no difference.

We love our mom in a way and we love our dad in a way, but we love them both.

Yeah, I'm both.

I am a mestizo.

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