Former Spanish PM accused of racism in remarks about French football team

Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s conservative former prime minister, has sparked an international backlash after writing in a column for El Debate that France’s World Cup-winning squad “does not have any French players,” a remark published ahead of Spain’s semi-final clash with Les Bleus in Qatar 2022.

Writing for the online newspaper on Friday, Rajoy reflected on France’s dominance in the tournament and their current standing at the top of FIFA’s rankings. While praising their consistency and quality, he concluded: “They don’t have any French players. And they’re playing very well.” The line drew immediate comparisons to a recent racist social media attack on Kylian Mbappé by Celeste Amarilla, a Paraguayan senator who described the PSG forward as a “colonised Cameroonian, desperately trying to pass himself off as French.”

In France, the response was swift and categorical. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told BFMTV on Sunday: “That’s completely unacceptable. That’s completely not what France is about.” France’s minister for overseas territories, Naïma Moutchou, added: “The same racist obsessions and insults resurface every time [France] wins. These comments are not just wrong—they are dangerous.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez took aim at Rajoy’s framing, posting on X: “There are those who still measure belonging by surname, place of birth, or skin colour. Others measure it by our roots in a country and our will to contribute to it.” He listed football, elder care, and entrepreneurship as examples of service to Spain, concluding: “Spain belongs to those who love it and work for it. Not to those who shame it with xenophobic statements.”

Political parties join the condemnation

French opposition figures lined up to denounce Rajoy’s remarks. Olivier Faure, leader of the Socialist Party, insisted: “France is not an ethnic nation; it has no skin colour or religion. It is a political nation united around the republican motto—much to the chagrin of the racist right.” Fabien Roussel, head of the Communist Party, said the comments were reminiscent of Amarilla’s tirade and accused Rajoy of trying to “spew filthy racism in an attempt to annoy our beautiful French team.”

In Spain, the criticism extended beyond Sánchez. The governing PSOE party’s deputy leader, Sofía Castañón, called Rajoy’s words “a stain on our democracy,” while the far-left Sumar coalition accused him of recycling “the vocabulary of the extreme right.” The conservative opposition party, Partido Popular, of which Rajoy is a senior figure, has so far declined to comment on the remarks.

What next for Rajoy and the debate?

Rajoy has not issued a public apology. His office did not respond to multiple requests for comment, and El Debate has not amended the article. The controversy arrives at a sensitive moment in European football, where debates over identity and representation have intensified following Mbappé’s leadership of France and Spain’s own multicultural squad, which includes players such as Rodri, born in Madrid to a Ghanaian father, and Lamine Yamal, born in Esplugues de Llobregat to a Moroccan father and Equatorial Guinean mother.

The episode also underscores how football remains a lightning rod for broader societal tensions. As Sánchez noted, the game is one of the clearest expressions of belonging—players born abroad who represent Spain, or those who choose to represent France despite ancestry elsewhere. Rajoy’s framing strips that complexity away, reducing national representation to an ethnic checklist rather than a civic one.

Why this matters beyond the pitch

Football’s global stage amplifies political rhetoric, and Rajoy’s column landed in a tournament where France’s diversity—Mbappé, Eduardo Camavinga, Aurélien Tchouaméni—has been central to their success. The backlash reflects a growing intolerance for language that frames national identity as inherited rather than earned. French ministers were explicit: the squad is composed only of French citizens, a fact that renders Rajoy’s claim not just wrong, but ideologically loaded.

For Sánchez, the moment was an opportunity to contrast Spain’s inclusive vision with what he characterised as the exclusionary instincts of the right. His post on X did not mention Rajoy by name, but the target was clear. The episode may also revive scrutiny of how conservative leaders in Europe engage with multicultural teams, especially when those teams win. In Italy, for example, the rise of players like Nicolò Fagioli and Rafael Leão has prompted similar debates, while in Germany, the DFB’s recent emphasis on dual heritage players has faced pushback from nationalist factions.

As the tournament progresses, the fallout from Rajoy’s column will linger. It has already shifted the conversation from tactics and form to the language used to describe national representation. In an era where footballers are asked to justify their allegiances daily, Rajoy’s words serve as a reminder that the debate is not just about who plays, but how we talk about those who do.