Controversy and the FIFA World Cup 2026 seem like a never-ending story. As France is set to face Spain in the semi-final, former Spanish conservative prime minister Mariano Rajoy made some controversial remarks about the French players. The backlash was quick, and the Spanish players and ministers came forward to denounce their former prime minister’s comments about Kylian Mbappé and others.
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“It surprises me and makes me sad. I see France’s multiculturalism as a quality,” Borja Iglesias said when asked about Rajoy’s statement that “Spain is playing against a very high-level France, but without Frenchmen.”
Rajoy held the office between 2011 and 2018. “It’s worth remembering that France has been a two-time world champion and was a finalist in the last World Cup. They’ve won every match they’ve played in this World Cup and are currently ranked No 1 in the FIFA rankings. They also have a top-level squad. That said, they don’t have any French players. And they’re playing very well. They’ll be a formidable opponent,” Rajoy said via the online newspaper El Debate.
France has one of the most diverse and multi-racial teams in the FIFA World Cup 2026. Most of their players are French citizens, born or raised in the country, who honed their skills through the nation’s highly effective youth academy systems. However, their roots lie in countries like Africa and the Caribbean. For example, Kylian Mbappé was born to a Cameroonian father and an Algerian mother.
So, Rajoy was hinting at the ethnicities of the French roster.
“If they play for the French national team, they are French, and the color of their skin doesn’t matter. We are all people, and we all respect each other,” Pau Cubarsi contradicted Rajoy’s statement.
“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. Playing football. Caring for our elders. Or opening businesses. Spain belongs to those who love it and work for it. Not to those who shame it with xenophobic statements,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on X.
“That’s completely unacceptable,” France’s interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said. “That’s completely not what France is about. France is a country of diversity where everyone can thrive and find their place.”
The controversy is related to what a Paraguayan senator, Celeste Amarilla, said about Mbappé. Just after Paraguay lost to France in their round of 16 game, Amarilla described Mbappé as a “colonised Cameroonian, desperately trying to pass himself off as French.” It had attracted huge criticism, and now the former Spanish prime minister has taken it further.
