Rajoy angers France by claiming that its national football team “has no French players”

The Diplomat The French government has strongly criticized comments made by former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, in which he stated that the neighboring country has a “top-level” football team but “without any French players.” In an article in the newspaper “El Debate” about the upcoming match between the Spanish and French national teams for the 2026 World Cup semifinals, Rajoy stated that the neighboring country “has a top-level squad, but without any French players.” In response to these comments, the French Embassy in Spain posted on social media this Sunday that, “without wishing to enter into controversy, it is worth remembering the facts: all the players on the French national team are French. Of the 26 players, 23 were born in France. The three who were born abroad are also French.” For his part, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (who will travel to Paris this Monday to participate in the meeting of the Coalition of Volunteers and attend the military parade for Bastille Day) posted on social media that “there are still those who measure belonging by surname, place of birth, or skin color.” “Others of us measure it by our roots in a country and our willingness to contribute to it. By playing football. By caring for our elderly. Or by opening businesses,” he continued. “Spain belongs to those who love it and work for it. Not to those who shame it with xenophobic statements. France, see you in the semifinals. May the best team win and may racism lose,” he concluded. The controversy with Rajoy and Sánchez's visit to Paris comes just days after the Senate, at the behest of the People's Party, again referred the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between Spain and France to the Constitutional Court. In this context, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares posted on social media that what happened with Rajoy “is hurtful and dangerous.” “Anything that masks racism and xenophobia is despicable. This is not Spain. All French people, without exception, are our friends, our neighbors, and partners. The PP’s sabotage will not prevent the Treaty of Friendship with France,” he added. From within the French government itself, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez (of Spanish origin, specifically from Almería) stated on BMF TV that, “if that statement is accurate, it is absolutely unacceptable” because “it in no way reflects what France is (…), a country of diversity, where everyone can develop and find their place.” For her part, the Minister for Overseas Territories, Naïma Moutchou, has asked the French Football Federation to initiate “all possible legal action” against Rajoy. Similarly, France's Minister Delegate for Gender Equality and the Fight Against Discrimination, Aurore Bergé, wrote that "repeated racist slips are intolerable." She added, "The French team shows the best of ourselves: a France that wins, that dares, that plays as a team, that perseveres in the face of adversity. A team we love and that makes us proud."

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