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Patrice Evra used to be a striker, Florent Malouda gets on down with reggae boys and Adil Rami's surprise offer of a lead role

This article is part of the Guardian's Euro 2012 Experts' Network, a co-operation between 16 of the best media organisations from the countries who have qualified for the finals in Poland and Ukraine. guardian.co.uk is running previews from two countries each day in the runup to the tournament kicking off on 8 June.

Patrice Evra

Patrice Evra, the natural-born defender? Not quite. When he joined PSG's youth academy at 16, he played as a striker, a role he also fulfilled when he played for the Sicilian team SC Marsala. This was no small feat as, before him, only three overseas players had played for the third division side. Evra scored three goals in the league and three in the Italian Cup, despite the many racist insults from the stands. "The people there used to call me negro all the time. So I called them bianco," he recalls. Just a few seasons later, during his second year in Nice, the Italian manager Sandro Salvioni decided to play him at left-back. It was Evra's Italian destiny.

Florent Malouda

Florent Malouda is a big fan of reggae. To the extent that, in July 2009, he actually launched his own reggae festival in Kourou, Guyana, to raise money for his foundation, One Love. The first one brought together artists such as Jah Cure, Beres Hammond and, above all, Wyclef Jean. "One of the sponsors asked me to bring Wyclef Jean to please the Haitian diaspora which is very active in Guyana. I liked the idea especially because the Haitians are often abused refugees. But Wyclef Jean, you can't really find his name in the phone book …

"He's a superstar and I figured he wouldn't be super-excited about the idea of being bitten by mosquitos in Guyana. Eventually I got hold of his manager's details, but he was a pain: the American way, you know what I mean? Everything was so strict. Finally, one day I was driving with Wyclef, and I said: 'Hey, I have a problem — your management won't allow anyone to touch your instruments, but I have a band playing after you and we won't have time to change the instruments.

"Wyclef, who saw that I was in trouble, told me: 'Don't worry, brother, everything will be all right, just relax … I can tell that it's not your day job.' At the end of the day, the concert was wild, he played three hours instead of the one planned, he jumped into the crowd, it was brilliant …"

The festival ended up making a loss of €400,000. The Chelsea player filled the gap with his own money and is organising a second edition (with Shaggy and the experienced Barrington Levy).

Mathieu Valbuena

As the principal shareholder and brand ambassador for the underwear range Kahmo, bought in 2010 by his agent Christophe Hutteau, the Marseille midfielder never misses an opportunity to show off his colourful but dubious pants. Even worse, the former Libourne player flooded Europe with his briefs, the terrible taste of footballers proving to be limitless. For the amateurs of US Quevilly – a French third division club – to whom he offered 60 boxers to "congratulate" them for their qualification for the final of the Coupe de France it was the flip side of success.

Cédric Carrasso

"When you look at him today, he is beautiful." The compliment, paid by the Marseille sporting director José Anigo, was not really obvious in 2001 when Cédric Carrasso tipped the scales at well over 16st. That had led the goalkeeper to go on a heavy-duty diet: two no-fat yoghurts and two slices of white turkey, as well as two hours of swimming and two hours of running. Every single day. "The doctors thought I was mad," he confesses now. He will have time regain his weight at the end of his career. Like every footballer.

Adil Rami

In the beginning Adil Rami was a mechanic. Then one day, just like magic, he became a footballer. Having become famous, he agreed to pose nude for the famous Dieux du Stade calendar. Those pictures were probably the reason for a quite delightful request. "One day, I received a script at home. It was insane, I was being offered the lead role in a movie, an actual movie. With Isabelle Adjani, if I remember well … I thought it was completely nuts …

"The part? I had to play a North African lad who was concerned about his sexuality, something like that. Actually, I think he was bisexual."

Rami has not followed up on it.

Pierre Maturana, Swann Borsellino and Eric Maggiori write for So Foot

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