⚽🗞️029 Jonathan Johnson
Meet Jonathan Johnson, a French football specialist who helps translate the hexagone’s football, stars, tacticians, and culture to American audiences, from Ligue 1 to Les Bleus and everything in between.
Jonathan’s Story
Born 1987 in Solihull, England, Johnson lived and studied in Paris with his family in the early 2000s. He became immersed in France’s Ligue 1 and developed a passion for the national team. As a season ticket holder at Paris Saint-Germain, he had a front-row seat to changes at the club, the league, and the country’s football more broadly. Johnson began to develop a niche role as an English-speaking expert on all things French football at the same time as Qatar’s 2011 investments in the field. He has since built a career reporting on and translating PSG, Ligue 1, and the national team to the Anglophone world through media outlets ESPN, Sky Sports, Bleacher Report, Eurosport/Discovery, beIN Sports USA, and most recently, CBS Sports.
The Sports Diplomacy Connection
As a journalist, Johnson engages in informal sports diplomacy every day through his reporting and analyses, communicating, representing, and negotiating English-speaking publics’ attitudes, perceptions, and understandings of France and its football.
“Knowing and understanding French football is appreciating many cultural nuances. Most English speakers struggle with the French game, partly due to a lack of cultural, historical, and social understanding.”
Everything has a history, and in French football, it isn’t only about what happens on the pitch. It’s also about the larger environment, of how the socio-cultural, political, and economic contexts play into comprehension of the game in all of its nubby parts.
Jonathan Johnson (center) and the CBS Sports team in Brooklyn, New York, November 2022.
That’s why, for Johnson, the historical, cultural, and social understanding plays a key role in his reporting, analysis, and commentary. “I am proud to be a passionate English speaker capable of explaining and transmitting French culture through my extensive football knowledge,” he said.
Johnson fields some interesting questions about France, its culture, and football scene from colleagues in the United States. “Questions usually focus on individual players,” he acknowledged, particularly concerning PSG and Les Bleus’ young star Kylian Mbappé, whose rise he chronicled in real time. There’s also curiosity around PSG’s cohort of global talent, including Neymar and Lionel Messi, as well as France’s role as a top talent producer and how they make Les Bleus. So, too, are questions around the national team, the salacious scandals as well as their stories of success.
“Many people also want to know more about the banlieues since it entered into the global football lexicon…covering PSG exposes me to things that I never thought possible back in my season ticket days.”
Jonathan Johnson (second from right) and the CBS Sports team in Brooklyn, New York, November 2022.
He also often explains how accessible football is in France. Americans are used to the pay-to-play system that dominates youth sports, in particular. But in France, in addition to a lower financial hurdle to play, access to the game is often just a stone’s throw away.
“You are never very far from somewhere to play in France, especially in Paris,” he said, and noted how storied club Red Star made its Stade Bauer in Saint Ouen sur Seine open to the public prior to its renovation. “The same pitch served kids’ teams as well as the seniors,” he remarked.
His career is also a means to learn more about the United States and its evolving football culture. “There is a huge crossover!” he noted of France x USA sporting ties.
“Various American sports are popular in France, particularly with the youth. Many football players grew up shooting hoops and playing ball. That crossover is increasingly visible now as basketballers wear PSG x Jordan clothing and visit European clubs while football stars flock to NBA games over here.”
Mapping the Connection
From Solihull, West Midlands England to Levallois-Perret (Paris region), France
Further Reading/Resources
[E] Interview with the author, November 2022.
[E] Jonathan Johnson football feed, CBS Sports.
[E] Jonathan Johnson Twitter feed @Jon_LeGossip
[E] “Interview with Jonathan Johnson,” ROAR Sports, April 2, 2021.
How to Cite This Entry
Krasnoff, Lindsay Sarah. “Voices: Jonathan Johnson,” FranceAndUS, https://www.franceussports.com/voices/029-jonathan-johnson. (date of consultation).