The volunteers support Les Gars de la Ville, the Serve the City Paris team, through various training sessions, matches, social gatherings, cultural events, victories, and defeats. Every moment spent with the team is valuable, both as a volunteer, or coach, but mainly as a person. That’s where you learn what it means to give your all for a cause. This is much more than just a team: it is a family that, between disagreements and agreements, victories and defeats—some, but fortunately not many (allez les gars!)—builds and shapes itself, forming great players and excellent people.
The end of 2025 was eventful for Les gars de la Ville, both on and off the field. Among the many games played and goals scored, we can highlight some great moments.
November 22nd was a big day for the team. Not only did we play a crucial match for the championship, but we also had old friends Logan and Sylla visiting for the weekend. The match was a fun battle against quality opponents. Having both Syla, one of the founding players of Les Gars de la Ville, who now plays for a professional team in Strasbourg, and Logan, a volunteer who helped coach the team last season, was amazing. They provided a huge moral boost on that freezing early morning and played a big part in the team’s success that day.
That morning, not even the frozen pitch and the cold air in our lungs could stop Les Gars de la Ville, securing yet another victory and another excellent morning in a competitive match, as we came away with an impressive 5-2 win, keeping our undefeated.
But when we say “sports,” it’s not just soccer that the team is interested in. A donation made to the team allowed the players to have their own skateboards, so they can show off their skills on and off the field, on the sidewalk or at a skate park.
The delivery was made by Max and Hamza, both volunteers on and off the field, and enabled the delivery of 10 skateboards.
Another great opportunity for the team was a cultural afternoon, right after one of the championship games. The visit was to the Institut du Monde Arabe, to one of the museum’s temporary exhibitions, where we visited The Mystery of Cleopatra, a unique immersion in the history of Egypt’s last queen.
On December 29, we met with coach Nate after his trip to South America to watch Sudan play in the Africa Cup of Nations. The team was in high spirits. We hadn’t gotten together for a few weeks due to the end-of-year break, so each player who arrived had more stories to tell and gifts from the coach to hand out.
The team is currently participating in a championship that began in October, and so far we are in second place. In the next two weeks, we will have a lot of work to do and put into practice.
We spoke with our defender, and one of the team leaders, on January 31 after a crushing 7-1 victory. According to Mamadou, “we are doing well, we have a strong, solid team, but we have to be smart. We have a lot of players, but we’re not here to have fun, we’re here to win. We have to be careful with substitutions and not take all the players off at once. We have the ability to move up in the standings, and next week we’ll do our best to win again. »
Among the activities for the month are Winter’s Cup and championship matches, including the final, training sessions, a soup kitchen with the team, and even a trip to the stadium to watch Paris FC vs. Real Madrid.