This isn't your average five-a-side. Everyday amateurs come up against professional players - and it's all organised by a former Manchester United youngster
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Cole Palmer (top left with Jean Belehouan, and bottom right in action) and James McAtee are among the Premier League footballers who have turned out at JB Sessions
Cole Palmer (top left with Jean Belehouan, and bottom right in action) and James McAtee are among the Premier League footballers who have turned out at JB Sessions
(Image: Pictures: Oliver Hayes, Koby Abbott, Film By Jake )
Cole Palmer taking on Felix Nmecha, two of Europe's top talents coming together under the lights.
But this isn't a European night, or even an elite training environment, this is a Sunday evening kickabout in inner-city Manchester.
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It's the brainchild of former Manchester United youngster Jean Belehouan and pits dozens of players against each other every week. Now and again a star name drops in, and in the summer the sessions swell to four times a week and the professional attendee list grows too.
Chelsea's Palmer, Dortmund's Nmecha a clutch of former United and City players, all playing with the everyday amateurs in what Belehouan has now christened JB Sessions.
Watching a Sunday game on a wintry evening at Manchester Nicholls, the standard is high with Belehouan acting as organiser, timekeeper and referee. There is a relaxed but competitive vibe and Belehouan's passion for the project is evident.
"I love it," he says. "As mad as it sounds, I get more of a thrill from this than I do in my own career as a professional football and trying to help people who need it. I want to pursue it and make it as big as I can."
Belehouan now plays for Gateshead in the National League and travels back from Newcastle every week to put on the sessions. He brings the bibs, covers the pitch and co-ordinates the teams.
"I have had to keep the momentum," he says of his weekly 300-mile round trip. "I am a Salford boy but I drive down just for this and take so much pride from it."
It all started with a social media message on the eve of lockdown when Belehouan posted about organising a game of football in Ardwick.
"It was insane how many people turned up," he recalls. "Jeremie Frimpong, Brandon Williams, Mason Greenwood, Ethan Laird, James Garner, Angel Gomes. Everyone just came together. Everyone said that I had to do it again.
Cole Palmer and Jean Belehouan
Cole Palmer and Jean Belehouan (Image: Oliver Hayes )
"So the next year we did and with the network of people I know I decided to make it into a thing and form something and give people a chance to get fit and play football.
"Anyone can come down and play, I want to be open for everyone and for the people. Some travel from Newcastle or Birmingham just to play and that is overwhelming really.
"In the summer, that is when it goes mad, we probably play around four times a week. Felix Nmecha, Cole Palmer, Tyrhys Dolan - players who play in the Champions League come down! People would think these players can't engage in the same way but here they mix with everyone and everyone just wants to socialise and play football. Football brings people together regardless."
Belehouan grew up in Salford and wants to give back to the community that made him. He arrived in England as a one-year-old with his mum, who had fled the civil war in the Ivory Coast and sought asylum. Didier Drogba is one of his heroes for what he did on and off the pitch. His mum is another.
"She is my idol really," he said. "She came over not knowing any English. She has sacrificed a lot for me as her only child. It is just her and me and she has done everything for me, the reason she came here was for me to have a better life. I do everything for her."
The new life took them to Salford and a young Belehouan started playing for Parkwyddn Juniors in Eccles. He was spotted by scouts from Liverpool, Everton, Manchester City and United. There was only one winner.
"All I knew was red so I didn't think twice about going to Man United," he recalls. "I went into their system, when I trained with United for eight weeks when I used to leave primary school early, and after that I went for a six-week trial with the academy and was fortunate to sign as an under-10 and was there until under-16.
"The longer I was there, the more I loved it. We went to play in so many tournaments, seeing Carrington and the idols of the club, it was amazing."
He was let go at 16 and moved on to Sheffield United, where he stayed for six years but failed to break into the senior set-up. He had loan spells at FC Halifax, Farsley Celtic and Boston, and by his own admission grew up plenty in Yorkshire.
"You had a luxurious life at United," he says. "At Sheffield it was a bit more brutal and a bit more every man for themselves.
"I had to live away from home for the first time, it is not easy to go into digs. My first year as a scholar at Sheffield United I hated it and wanted to come back home all the time. In the second year I decided to just give it my all.
Jean Belehouan in action for Gateshead
Jean Belehouan in action for Gateshead(Image: Gateshead FC)
"I went out on loans and I am buzzing I did that because it benefits me now. Men's football is important as a kid coming through the ranks. You get judged on whether you have played in that environment."
In 2023 he was released by the Blades and was close to taking a job at an Amazon factory with no new club on the horizon. A chance meeting between former United defender Teden Mengi's mum and one of Belehouan's friends sparked a conversation that ultimately led to him getting an agent who helped get the defender an opportunity at Tranmere in September 2023.
That trial led to a contract and eight appearances. Last summer he left Prenton Park and joined National League North side Gateshead, where he is a regular in a side challenging for promotion to the Football League.
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"I love it at Gateshead and I want to get back into the Football League and I want to do it with Gateshead."
If he does, it might not just be on the Powerleague pitches that he plays with the likes of Palmer.