Paris Saint-Germain's win against Arsenal in the Champions League final on 30 May marked a landmark achievement for the club, while also serving as a source of inspiration for France's aspiring professional athletes.
Each year, hundreds of aspiring professional footballers pursue a very different kind of win: a trophy at the national public-speaking competition organised by French non-profit Prométhée Éducation.
On 28th May, twenty young players from ten elite academies across France took part in the final, held at the Château de Versailles. For many, it was also their first time inside the UNESCO World Heritage site.
This time round, they were not judged by referees with whistles, but by prominent figures from the worlds of sport, culture and politics — including a former minister and a member of the National Assembly.
At 16 years old, Arthur Bar and Zélie Merlaud, two trainees at the PSG's youth academy who hail from Paris and Mont-de-Marsan in southwest France, made it to the final round of the competition.
