MADRID (AP) – Spain’s former prime minister joins France’s world cup There are “no French players” in the squad, but French and Spanish leaders have accused them of being racist.
Mariano Rajoy of Spain’s Conservative Popular Party made the comments in a column for Spanish news outlet El Debate ahead of Tuesday’s World Cup semi-finals between the European neighbors.
“They have won every match they have played in this World Cup and are currently at the top of the FIFA rankings. They also have a very strong team. However, what they are missing is the absence of French players,” Rajoy wrote on July 10.
On Monday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrault told French broadcaster BFM television: “France has no skin color. Any claims to the contrary arise from stupidity, racism or both.”
A day earlier, French Football Federation president Philippe Diallo wrote in X that “Mariano Rajoy’s comments against the French national team reek of intolerable racism,” adding: “It also calls into question the dire climate that gives rise to such sentiments. Our players do not need the former Spanish Prime Minister’s citizenship certificate.”
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Rajoy’s People’s Party said Monday that the comments were sarcastic and not malicious.
“These columns were written without malice,” said spokeswoman Borja Semper. “This expression is used without malice.”
Spain’s ruling Socialist Party government immediately condemned the comments by Prime Minister Rajoy, who served as prime minister from 2011 to 2018.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez addressed the comments without naming his predecessor, writing about X: “Some people still measure their sense of belonging by their surname, their place of birth or the color of their skin. Others measure their sense of belonging by their roots in a country and their will to contribute to it: playing football, caring for their elders or starting a business. France, see you in the semi-finals. May the best win and racism lose.”
France will play Spain in Dallas on Tuesday.
Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Álvarez also spoke on Monday, saying that Popular Party leader Alberto Nuñez Feijoo needed to disavow the remarks.
This is not the first time France has faced racism during this World Cup.
Earlier this month, French captain and star player Kylian Mbappecriticized the Paraguayan senator over her comments after Paraguay lost to France in the round of 16.
After Mbappé’s penalty kick France won on July 4, Celeste Amarilla, a senator from the Paraguayan Freedom Radical Party, posted a series of comments to X mocking the French player’s origin, upbringing, education and appearance.
