Daouda Weidmann: how a Parisian street footballer who trained with Messi and Mbappé is taking the Netherlands by storm
Few people knew Daouda Weidmann (23) when he arrived in the Netherlands. Now the FC Twente midfielder is making a name for himself. For our "Hidden Gems" series, we trace the journey of another talent raised in Paris.
Paris is not just the City of Love. It is also the world capital of football: no city produces more talent than the French capital. At the most recent World Cup, 56 players who grew up in or around Paris took part, compared with 30 in 2022. In total, 99 players at the 2026 World Cup were born in France.
In the suburbs surrounding Paris, the banlieues, children play on the pitches where some of football's biggest names honed their skills. Kylian Mbappé is the most recent and prominent example.
Post-war immigration is the main reason the Île-de-France, the Parisian suburbs, has such a concentration of talent. "There is an incredible amount of talent in a relatively small area," Hubert Fournier, technical director of the French Football Federation, proudly tells The Athletic.
Communities from former French colonies, including Algeria, Senegal, Mali and Morocco, settled north of Paris and contributed to France's recent success. "It's a training system built over decades," Fournier explains.
Clubs across the Île-de-France compete fiercely, pushing standards higher. "Players encounter different styles of play," Fournier adds. "That stimulates creativity and produces unique talents like Riyad Mahrez, Rayan Cherki and Ousmane Dembélé."
Investment in sports infrastructure also plays a part. In 2016, Paul Pogba, a 2018 world champion, explained why Paris produces so much talent: "Because there's nothing but football."
"Whether you're at school or out and about, everyone wants to play football. It stops people doing stupid things. Every day is football, and nothing but football." Poverty in the area also shapes the young players' mentality.
"They want to make a living from football," says Fournier. "They want to become professionals at all costs. It's not an easy place: many families struggle to make ends meet, and the boys know it. They give everything to succeed. It's that mentality that makes the difference."
Parents do what they can to help talented youngsters reach professional football. Paul Pogba's father, for example, overinflated the balls his sons used to force them to shoot harder.
Parisian talent also finds its way to the Dutch Eredivisie. Algerian Anis Hadj-Moussa grew up in the banlieues and moved to the Netherlands via Belgium, shining first at Vitesse and now at Feyenoord.
"He's a typical banlieue player," explains Daouda Weidmann, 23, who also honed his game in the Parisian suburbs. "After school, it was all we did," he tells NOS. "Indoors or outdoors, one banlieue against another. There are hundreds of good players there. I often played against boys more talented than me."
"It's a melting pot of cultures: African boys, Arab boys." Weidmann grew up among them. His surname does not evoke central Paris or France. "My mother is German," the midfielder tells Tubantia. He was born in the 19th arrondissement but later moved to the suburbs.
"My sister and I grew up with my mother in Paris; they still live there. I have her surname because my father did not acknowledge us in our early years and was not part of our lives until I was four."
At 12, he joined PSG, but he considered giving up several times: "The standard was extremely high. I had to give up a lot: I missed my family, Covid was hard and I suffered injuries. I wondered: wouldn't a normal job be better?"
He kept going and found himself in the dressing room with Lionel Messi, Mbappé, Sergio Ramos and Neymar. "Superstars I had only seen on TV. You're there to train, not to admire them, but it's not easy for a young boy."
Almost nobody knew him when he arrived in the Netherlands three years ago. RKC signed him from Torino and took him to Waalwijk.
"Moving from the youth teams to PSG's first team is almost impossible," Weidmann explains. "They wanted to loan me to French third-division clubs, then Torino came along."
Torino proved the wrong move. "All typically Italian," he sighs. "Fine words, big promises, but nothing concrete. Torino wanted to send me to Serie C, and I didn't want that."
When RKC called, he made up his mind quickly. "My agent called me out of the blue and said: 'I have a club in the Netherlands for you: RKC.' I asked: 'Who?' I'd never heard of them. I looked them up online, saw they had finished mid-table and thought: 'The Dutch league has a good reputation, let's give it a try.'"
Twente's fans, whose team are among Europe's leading sides, were also surprised when the club presented the Frenchman at the Grolsch Veste last year. He had hardly shone in Waalwijk.
"I didn't have ten goals or ten assists to my name," Weidmann admits. Twente's call stunned him. "I was in shock: who? FC Twente? I said: 'It's impossible. How can Twente be interested in me when I played so little last season and am now at a second-division club?'"
"It's no wonder I stayed under the radar for so long," he now understands. "That season (2024/25), I was out from November to May with an abdominal injury. Before that I was playing well, but with RKC's poor results I didn't stand out."
A year later, the midfielder is a favourite at the Grolsch Veste. In 16 appearances, he has already been involved in 11 goals (5 goals, 6 assists). Last Sunday, he was not even in the squad when Twente inflicted a nine-goal rout on Excelsior.
His moment of glory came when he picked up the ball just outside his own penalty area, got past the PSV defence and finished coolly to secure a crucial victory. "Run, run and keep running. That move deserves a place in the FC Twente museum!" exclaimed the NOS commentator.
That goal suggests his career is finally taking off, years after he shared pitches with global stars. The next Parisian street-football talent has made it, or almost. "My goal remains the France national team, although I know there is still a long way to go."
