Nathan Kamardine, the Mahoran in France's squad at the 2026 Powerchair Football World Cup

Sport MayottePublished 22 October 2026 5 min read

A Mahoran among the two-time world champions

Eight players are wearing the blue shirt in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the 2026 Powerchair Football World Cup. Among them is the youngest in the squad: Nathan Kamardine, 18, from Bouéni, a commune in south-west Mayotte. Now living in the Paris region, he plays for Nanterre Foot Fauteuil, in Division 1, the top level of the French championship.

It is his first call-up, and no ordinary one: France won the last two World Cups, in 2017 in the United States and in 2023 in Australia, and are the reigning European champions. The news of his selection came this summer, two months after a scouting camp. “I'm stressed, but above all delighted. It's a huge opportunity to take part in this competition,” he told Mayotte la 1ère at the time.

Powerchair football: how does it work?

Powerchair football is the team sport for people who use an electric wheelchair. Teams, which can be mixed, field four players, including a goalkeeper, on an indoor court measuring 28 by 15 metres. A match is played in two halves of 20 minutes.

• The wheelchair is limited to 10 km/h and carries a front guard, used to dribble and strike the ball while protecting the player.
• The ball, much bigger than a football, is 33 cm in diameter.
• The goals are marked by two posts set 6 metres apart; inside the penalty area, no more than two defenders, goalkeeper included, may be present at the same time.
• Contact that is accidental and not violent is allowed, but blocking or ramming an opponent is a foul.

The game calls for great precision in driving, a sense of positioning and plenty of tactics. In France, the sport is run by the French Handisport Federation, with a national championship in three divisions.

From Bouéni to Division 1

It all began when he was 14. His mother, Soyanti Kamardine, was looking for an activity to fill his Wednesday afternoons. “She had seen a post on Facebook. She showed it to me, we wanted to give it a try and I was hooked straight away. I've never stopped since,” says Nathan.

Powerchair football opened the door to team sport for him. “Before, I couldn't play any sport. I'd watch my friends go off to play football and I'd stay at home,” he remembers. Today, the ball is at the heart of his life: “I can't see my life without football.” The sport is still amateur, but he makes no secret of his dream of one day making it his career.

Before leaving for Argentina, Les Bleus sharpened their teamwork in July at a friendly tournament in Scotland against several European nations, then at a training camp on site, just before the competition, to adjust to the time difference.

Buenos Aires, a ten-team World Cup

Held every four years by the international powerchair football federation (FIPFA), the World Cup is in its fifth edition, the first in Latin America. It is being played at the Olympic Park in Buenos Aires, from Saturday 17 to Friday 23 October 2026. Ten teams are taking part: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, the United States, France, England, Italy, Japan and Uruguay.

The format leaves no respite: each team plays the other nine in five days, often twice on the same day. Only the top four qualify for the semi-finals. The goal of David Vergé's Bleus, as the head coach openly says, is to become the first nation to win a third world title. France currently share the record of two titles with the United States, champions in 2007 and 2011.

Alongside Nathan, the squad brings together players from four French clubs: Mohamed Amairi, his team-mate at Nanterre, Youcef Ayad Zeddam and Bryan Weiss (Grafteaux Villeneuve-d'Ascq), Aurélien Fillatre and Tristan Le Beller (Din'Handisport), Mohamed Ghelami and Noël Zeren (AS Upsilon Châtenay-Malabry). Two reserves complete the list. “We know that every match will be a final,” the coach warned before departure.

A debut to remember

The competition got off to a poor start for Les Bleus, beaten 3–1 by England in the opening match on Saturday 17 October. The next day, they bounced back with two big wins, and Nathan had a lot to do with it: in the starting line-up, he scored twice against Japan (4–0), then a third goal against Denmark (5–0). On Monday 19 October, France notably beat the United States, the other two-time world champions, 4–0.

“We didn't expect it at all. We thought he'd be on the bench because it's his first call-up and he's the youngest in the team, but in the end they put their trust in him,” said his mother, who travelled to Argentina with his father and sister to cheer him on. At the side of the court during the match against Denmark, his club coach, Paul Quesada, waved a Mayotte flag.

Follow the latest from the competition in our sports news.

The final four

After the nine group matches, the top four in the standings play the semi-finals on Thursday 22 October. The final takes place on Friday 23 October at 8 pm (Paris time), which is 10 pm in Mayotte and the Comoros. All matches are streamed live and as replays on the official FIPFA YouTube channel.

Whatever the final result, this first world event has already made Nathan Kamardine one of the faces of Mahoran sport. He joins other athletes from the archipelago who have shone far from their islands, whom you can discover on our Figures & feats page.