🏈0️⃣4️⃣3️⃣ Maceo Beard
By Léon Nelson
Photo: Maceo Beard.
Meet Maceo Beard, a cornerback for the Paris Musketeers who facilitates the transatlantic sports conversation thanks to his passion for American football.
Born in France with an American father, Beard has always been passionate about sports but fell in love with American football in high school. At the age of 16, he had a solid athletic background thanks to playing soccer for 12 years while also competing in track and field events. When his mom moved out of Paris, he had to find a good enough team that would allow him to stick with his professional soccer career ambitions. It just happened that the new town had a football team; since he always played catch with his dad growing up, he thought why not! That’s how Beard began to play the game. Even though he has only been to the United States to train in the offseason, he was invited to the 2022 Europe NFL combine in London. Beard was drafted by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Canadian Football League (CFL) that same year. He now plays in Europe and still hopes to make an NFL roster.
Maceo’s Story
Maceo is now a professional athlete in the European League of Football (ELF) and is trying to pursue a career in the NFL, the most prestigious American football league in the world (and the biggest sport business in the world). He’s played for the French national team and one of his goals is to play flag football in the LA 2028 Olympics.
The ELF is a relatively recent organization, founded in 2021. It's a unique experience to witness the sport develop in Europe. Fan interest is growing very rapidly as they're learning the rules, and front offices are building into established businesses.
Beard is one of the first French players to be drafted by a team in the CFL, and he’s trying to make it to the NFL, hoping to help internationalize the game. Just like the 1982 French NBA generation (Parker, Diaw, Turiaf, Pietrus), he hopes to make the game more popular in France and hopefully get an NFL game in France.
The Sports Diplomacy Connection
Being French-American, Beard has an excellent understanding of French and American cultures, but he has many American teammates for whom he serves as a type of informal sports diplomat, communicating, representing, and negotiating about France, its culture, and its sports.
Photo: Maceo Beard.
For these athletes it’s been a very humbling experience to play in Europe, Beard notes. “The average athlete in America is living a life that’s nowhere close to Europe's athletes,” he notes. With the exception of soccer, and maybe more recently basketball or even rugby, other sports usually make the average salary, just like any other “regular” job would. “It's no superstar lifestyle as the media's attention isn't about football,” he said. The biggest change for his American teammates is the ability to able to walk from one place to another without depending on a car to get around.
Beard tries to make his teammates as comfortable with the city and its culture as possible. He’s recommended his favorite spots in Paris and, as a big sports fan who regularly attends soccer, handball, and basketball games, he's suggested they go see the other teams play to have a better understanding of the Parisian sports culture. He will also try to attend some of the Olympic events with his teammates this summer and share in the sporting and cultural festivities, with the Olympics bringing the world to Paris.
It’s an event he’s excited about. “Media, athletes, as well as an astonishing 15 million tourists are projected to visit,” Beard said.
“Paris is the place to be this summer! It's most likely that people will stay around for a few days at least, and there are only so many events and tickets available. When visiting Americans find out about football being played in Europe, they'll be excited to check it out! Although we're not officially in the Olympics, this will be the closest we'll get!”
Mapping the Connection
From Oakland, California to Paris, France
Further Reading/Resources
[E] “Top 100 Players of 2023, No. 4 Maceo Beard,” European League of Football.
[E] “Riders Sign Global Pick Maceo Beard, American RB Justin Covington,” Canadian Football League, May 6, 2022.
[E] Dr. Russ Crawford, “American Football in France,” FranceAndUS Backgrounder,
How to Cite This Entry
Nelson, Léon. “Voices: Beard Maceo,” FranceAndUS, https://www.franceussports.com/voices/043-maceo-beard.