my first job was reffing soccer for $5 a game back when was 12 or so.
let's just say that reffing soccer as a pre-teen is a traumatic experience, and will make you hate everything about the game.
Luckily it didn't scar me for life, and I got into watching anything I could find on basic cable.
(in 1994, after the cup final, I saw some idiots in a limo drive into my VERY Italian neighborhood
while waving a Brazilian flag out of the sunroof. Then a brick hit their window, it was great! )
The French National team was an easy fit, and who I always cheered for in FIFA tourneys.