“Revolutionary Work” is a series that highlights the people who make the New England Revolution tick behind the scenes, from the equipment room to the boardroom.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – After becoming French champions with the Paris Saint-Germain Under-19s in 2024, Bilal Bejaoui was ready for the next step. After eight seasons as a physical trainer with the world-renowned club, he didn’t just take a leap in his career when he accepted a role as the sports performance coach for Revolution II – he made a life‑changing, 3,400-mile move away from everything he’d ever known.
Bejaoui grew up 30 minutes south of Paris in the suburb of Antony, where he spent most of his days kicking a soccer ball around the streets with friends. He fell in love with the sport early and played until he was 20. When he accepted the hard truth that he might not play professionally, he didn’t let go of the dream of working in the game. Instead, he combined his passion for soccer and fitness, earning a master’s degree in sport performance, which would eventually lead him to New England.
Even from Paris, Bejaoui kept up with MLS. A diehard PSG supporter, he was always intrigued by the American league. When he felt ready for a new adventure, he came across a job listing for a sports performance coach with New England’s MLS NEXT Pro side. He hadn’t heard of MLS NEXT Pro at the time, but something about the opportunity grabbed his attention. He applied, spoke with Federico Pizzuto, the Revolution’s director of sports performance, and received an offer the very next day.
“I saw the job listed and I thought, why not apply? I could come and learn more about the culture, get better with the language, acclimate with the environment, then maybe have more opportunities from there. It felt like the perfect time to start something in the USA,” Bejaoui explained. “I was scared, of course. You have to leave all your family and friends. You ask yourself a lot of questions, even more in the last minute. When I arrived in the Boston airport they lost my bags and I was like, ‘okay what did you do? Why did you come here?’”
Despite his anxiety, Bejaoui showed up on that first day at the Revolution Training Center eager to make an impact for the organization. After just a single week of training with Revs II, he already felt like part of the group.
Unsure of his English and knowing little about his new home, it took him a moment to come out of his shell. Now, it’s apparent when Bejaoui is in the office. His booming laugh echoes through the hallway as he jokes with players and cheers erupt from his desk – especially if PSG is playing – as he always has some kind of sport playing on the TV, always keeping everyone entertained.
“During my eight seasons with PSG I did a lot. I led them in the gym. I did rehab. I worked with kids, 15-year-olds, 19-year-olds, second team. It helped me a lot to have a vision of how a club works and all of that experience has helped me here,” he explained. “Because even if it’s another continent, another country, another culture, soccer is the same everywhere.”
With the Revolution’s developmental side, Bejaoui oversees strength and conditioning, leads warmups before every game and training session, and works closely with the coaching staff to manage player workloads and maximize performance. In summation, he makes sure players are fit enough to succeed.
Like everyone on the Revolution II staff, his mission is to help players reach the first team and win games, of course. As he describes, he’s never worked with players more driven to achieve their dreams.
“I feel every day they want to work. They know they need to work hard physically and also be ready mentally. I was really happy with that when I came here,” he said. “But it’s also very important in my job to build trust. With the players, with the coach, when you win the trust of people it is easier to work with them. Especially with the players when it comes to helping them get better. When you have their trust, they know that everything you are telling them to do is to help them.”
Bejaoui has seen many players he’s worked with reach the first‑team level in both Paris and New England. In fact, he was on FaceTime with several of his former PSG players, who are now first-team contributors, as they celebrated winning the Champions League final recently.
Moments like that remind him why development matters, and it’s exactly what he loves about the New England Revolution.
“The second team is not just a second team. They really want to make sure that the guys who come from the Academy play professional games with the second team and from the second team, they play minutes with the first team. It is a family club, everyone is close. This is what I love about this club,” he said. “I feel good here because people trust me. People tell me I am doing well here, but they always push me to do more and be better.
“I think here in MLS, in the U.S., when you work hard and you try, you prove yourself, you are given more opportunity.”
Even so far from home, Bejaoui is confident he made the right choice for his career just over a year ago. It’s the environment, the shared sense of ambition, and the trajectory of MLS that make him want to stay. Be it with the Revolution or somewhere else in the league, Bejaoui sees opportunity in this country because of the opportunity he’s found in New England.
