Very close to his father Francis, Noah Sadiki decided on his own to wear the jersey of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Against his father's initial advice...

He stops in the mixed zone, always friendly. Noah Sadiki has a round, cheerful face and the quick wit of a social media kid. At 21, he has established himself at the heart of the Congolese football scene after deciding to wear the jersey of his country of origin at the U20 level as a symbol, in the DRC, of the return of dual nationals. More common among North Africans, this path is less natural in sub-Saharan Africa.

Sadiki even gently opposed his father's career choice. His father, who owns a football academy near Brussels, couldn't imagine his son, already a Belgian youth international, returning to his home country. "No father would want to send his son somewhere he's not doing well!" he explains. "You had to be crazy back then to do that."

Francis describes the harshness of his departure from Anderlecht to Union Saint-Gilloise in 2023 as a defining moment, following words that felt like stabs in the back for a Black boy born in Belgium. "He received death threats, I was depressed. I told him to fight against racist remarks. I'll resent them for it my whole life; they wanted to destroy our child, but maybe it pushed him to think: 'I was born here and this is how I'm treated.'"

When Noah told him he was determined to become a Leopard, he questioned him. "But why do you want to go?" "Dad, you always speak ill of Congo, but I'm going to see for myself, and if we don't do anything..." And then I cried. If it's your choice, I'll support you for the rest of my life. In 2024, left out of the squad for the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, his father was worried. Noah reassured him: "Don't worry, my turn will come."

"There is a new generation that wants to help the people of the country."

Noah Sadiki, midfielder from the Democratic Republic of Congo

And he came. "It's a personal choice," the Sunderland player told us. "I'm not forcing anyone to choose Congo; I made it of my own free will. There's a new generation that wants to help the people of the country, like Ibrahim Mbaye in Senegal. There's pride and pleasure in being here. I was looking forward to it when I was young; I watched most of the DRC's matches."

Following in the footsteps of his football-mad father, now a department manager at Carrefour, who debriefs Noah after every match, "Family is sacred. He is the product of my strict upbringing and of Western society, which allows a little freedom, the combination of a gentle mother and a warm father. I tell Junior, as I call him: every time you play, be a representative for those children who haven't had your chance, you give them the right to dream. Noah came from nothing, I want him to be a role model."

A childhood friend of Matthieu Epolo, Mario Stroeykens, and Bilal el Khannous since their father's academy days, Junior played a behind-the-scenes role in advising the first two to join the DRC. And he will play his part in the spotlight this Tuesday (5 p.m.) against Algeria in the Africa Cup of Nations round of 16 clash.