One day, Rolland Courbis called me to tell me he was going to prison: famous football voice, Jano Rességuié recounts thirty years of passion and encounters in a book.

Rare are the men recognized more by their voice than their appearance. Jano Ressayogui is one of them. “One day, I was in a restaurant in Reims with my wife, Virginie, and an audience member approached me. The voice, that’s the accent. A lot of colleagues had warned me in Toulouse and on Sud Radio: you need to be careful with your accent. In fact, my accent became my trademark.”

His voice, his delivery, and his rise in pitch, particularly memorable one April night in 2023 at Stade de France, when the RMC journalist commented on the five goals of his lifelong supported team, Toulouse Football Club, in the Coupe de France final – that’s what defined Jano. The Montalbanais has penned a book recounting “30 years of football from the front row,” from his privileged position as a commentator.

To compile his memories in this book to be released on May 6 by Talent Sport (1), the Montauban native “needed people to refresh my memory. We worked with Hugues Berton and Olivier Cabrera. Hugues knew me in Paris. His son, a fan of the Greens, listened to me on the radio. Olivier brought his expertise in football: he’s a Lyon supporter.” Jano Ressayogui wisely avoids getting involved in the age-old rivalry between his friend Jean-Michel Larqué’s ASSE, who authored the foreword of his book, and the OL of Jean-Michel Aulas, “one of the football executives who made the greatest impact on me.”

The journey of Jean Ressayogui, son of a Montauban photographer who was meant to follow in his father’s footsteps, took an unexpected turn. “It’s true that my radio career was not planned. I studied photography”.

However, it was at Radio Monte-Carlo in Toulouse that Jano began his career as a journalist in 1987. “I covered all the news, including sports. At that time, TFC was doing well with Daniel Jeandupeux, and especially Jacques Santini.” It brings us back to the former glories of the Greens. How would Jano have commented on Santini’s head colliding with the square posts at Hampden Park in Glasgow during the ill-fated (for the Greens) 1976 European Cup final between Saint-Étienne and Bayern Munich? We will never know.

Jano has commented on many legendary matches on radio, such as a Milan AC-Inter derby at San Siro, a stadium that left a lasting impression on him along with the new Wembley. He also covered TV matches, notably a return leg in 2019 reminiscent of the remontada between Liverpool and Barcelona at Anfield. “In the first leg, Barcelona won 3-0. Liverpool triumphed 4-0 in the return with a late goal from Origi.”

“The France-Brazil 1998 final, I commented to 30 people in an apartment in Platja d’Aro”

Jano has also experienced, through RMC, the last two World Cup finals – the 2018 victory in Russia by Deschamps’ Blues against Croatia, and the 2022 loss in Qatar on penalties against Messi’s Argentina. “I have commented on 2,587 matches, and thanks to M6, I won’t stop there. I will be commentating on nine matches of the upcoming World Cup with Jean-Marc Ferreri. The first match will be Germany-Curaçao on June 14th.” This time, no long-haul flights for the journalist. “I will be commentating from Paris. I am happy as I wasn’t particularly drawn to this World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.”

Jano vividly remembers the first World Cup he followed, the 1998 tournament in France. “I was at the RMC office in Montpellier, so I covered the matches at la Mosson and worked until the Brazil/Netherlands semi-final at Stade Vélodrome. I commented on the France/Brazil final to about thirty people in an apartment in Platja d’Aro. I was accredited, but I didn’t have a ticket for Stade de France.”

“Seven World Cups, travels, and relocations” were part of Jano Ressayogui’s daily life during his long tenure at RMC. 37 years of loyalty concluded in June 2025. The Montalbanais worked with radio consulting pioneers, the first among them being Jean-Michel Larqué, the former Saint-Étienne captain with whom he collaborated for 20 years, and then Luis Fernandez, Rolland Courbis “and a bit of Éric Di Meco when Courbis was in prison.” On that topic, Jano shares an amusing anecdote. “The day the police came to arrest Rolland Courbis in the investigation of illegal transfers at OM, he had one call before being taken into custody. He called me. He asked me to inform François Pesenti (Editor’s note: former director of RMC Sport) that he couldn’t make it to the evening show.”