Teddy Riner reveals his favourite player: Anelka ahead of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo

Teddy Riner has an unexpected answer when asked his favourite football player: Nicolas Anelka, even ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. The Olympic judo champion, whose candidacy for the 2027 presidential election was officially announced on Monday, had revealed this in March 2025 on the show L’Équipe de Greg.

“I’m going to get booed, but it’s Anelka,” he had declared. “Because between Messi and CR7, I’d say CR7. I respect the great player that Messi is, but Nico…” The choice is not insignificant: Riner grew up in Paris, a PSG supporter, and himself played football as a defender for Levallois club, alongside judo, from the age of 5.

Nicolas Anelka made his professional debut at PSG during the 1995-1996 season, before joining Arsenal, blocked by players such as Raí, Dely Valdés and Patrice Loko. It was especially his return to the capital club in the summer of 2000, as the figurehead of the so-called “banlieue-PlayStation” project, that captured the imagination of an entire generation of Paris supporters — including, apparently, the future candidate for the Élysée.

Since the announcement of his candidacy, reactions from the football world have multiplied around Riner, whose atypical profile — elite athlete, from Guadeloupe, popular figure — has sparked as much curiosity as debate in political and sporting circles.