Former Spanish PM Rajoy sparks outrage with claim France plays without Frenchman

Former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has ignited a diplomatic firestorm on the eve of the World Cup semifinal between France and Spain, after writing in a newspaper column that the French national team boasts a “top-tier squad” — “but without Frenchmen”.

The controversial remark came in Rajoy’s latest World Cup column for the Spanish daily El Debate, published late Saturday, July 11, following Spain’s 2-1 quarterfinal victory over Belgium. In the piece, titled “Hoy llegó el desquite” (“Today Was the Day for Revenge”), the former conservative prime minister — who led Spain from 2011 to 2018— previewed La Roja’s upcoming semifinal clash with Didier Deschamps’ France side.

After acknowledging France’s pedigree as two-time world champions, their perfect record in this year’s tournament, and their top spot in the FIFA rankings, Rajoy wrote: “They also have a squad of the highest level. That said, without Frenchmen”.

The remark appeared to reference the fact that many players in the French squad have immigrant backgrounds or roots in former French colonies. However, the assertion does not withstand factual scrutiny: of the 26 players called up by Deschamps for the tournament, only three were born outside France — Michael Olise (London, to a British-Nigerian father and French-Algerian mother), Marcus Thuram (Parma, Italy, where his father Lilian Thuram was playing at the time), and Brice Samba (Democratic Republic of the Congo). All three hold French nationality and were raised within the French football system. The remaining 23 players were born in France.

French Government: “Absolutely Unacceptable”

The response from Paris was swift and damning. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez called Rajoy’s comments “absolutely unacceptable” in an interview on BFM TV.

“If that statement is accurate, it is absolutely unacceptable. It does not reflect what France is at all,” Nuñez said. He defended France as “a country of diversity, where everyone can develop and find their place,” and expressed regret that such comments fuel racist attacks against French national team players, particularly captain Kylian Mbappé.

“There is only one France,” Nuñez insisted — “a Republic in which everyone must be able to find their place, regardless of their origins, convictions, or religion”.

France’s Minister Delegate for Equality and the Fight Against Discrimination, Aurore Bergé, wrote on social media platform X that “the repeated racist outbursts are intolerable. It’s time they stop and that sports return to being sports: a space where we are judged on our talent and no other criterion”.

Overseas Territories Minister Naïma Moutchou went further, calling on the French Football Federation to pursue “all possible legal actions” against Rajoy’s remarks. “With every victory of Les Bleus, the same obsessions and racist insults resurface,” she wrote on X. “These are not ‘slips.’ It is methodical and trivialized hatred of France and what it represents”.

The French Embassy in Spain issued a statement reminding that “all the players in the French national team are French” — with 23 of the 26 born in France and the remaining three also French citizens.

Spanish Political Reactions

The controversy also drew sharp criticism within Spain. José Cepeda, a member of the European Parliament from the ruling left-wing PSOE party, called Rajoy’s comments “racist and xenophobic” and said it was “shameful” that the former prime minister had spoken in such a way.

Transport Minister Óscar Puente attacked Rajoy on X, calling him a “corrupt post-Francoist fool”. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez later weighed in, writing: “May the best team win — and may racism lose. Spain belongs to those who love it and work for it, not to those who shame it with xenophobic statements”.

A Recurring Debate

Rajoy’s comments echo a long-running debate over French football and national identity that dates back to France’s first World Cup triumph in 1998. That victorious team, featuring Zinedine Zidane, Lilian Thuram, Marcel Desailly, and Patrick Vieira — many of whom had immigrant backgrounds or roots in former French colonies — was celebrated as a symbol of French multiculturalism. Yet far-right figures at the time, including Jean-Marie Le Pen’s National Front, argued the team did not truly represent France.

The semifinal between France and Spain is scheduled for Tuesday, July 14, at 9 PM CET. Whether Rajoy’s remarks will add extra fuel to an already high-stakes encounter remains to be seen — but the political fallout shows no sign of abating.