"Africa won the World Cup?": French players (and Obama) have the last word

Since France won the World Cup Sunday night, a series of racist rumors began to bubble.

It was mainly held abroad with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Croatian footballers. Italian journalists

Even former US President Barack Obama has entered the fray.

Maduro's comments summarize the opinions of a minority, perhaps bitter about the victory of the Blues, which highlighted the ethnic background of the players. The France team looked like an African team, in fact it is Africa who won, "said Maduro." France won thanks to the players Africans or the sons of Africans. "

Maduro congratulated France and called for the end of racism in Europe against the African peoples, but his words on the French team remained stuck.

s & # 39, express widely and not only in social media caves where trolls hang.

The French newspaper Les Echos noted how France's victory was greeted by a wave of racist comments in Italy that some journalists and newspapers had only helped fuel

"A team full of Africans mixed with some very good white players played against a team from a country at the center of three great schools of football thought: Slavic, German and Italian, "writes the Corriere della Sera Italy on the differences between France and Croatia.

Even on the eve of the last Croatian player, Igor Stimac said that the country's team was colliding "with the Republic of France and the African continent"

. Trevor Noah attempted to joke about the origins of the French team by claiming that "Africa won the World Cup" and ended up being accused of racism and bad humor.

The former US President Barack Obama is even involved to tidy up all those who suggest that the players were not French.

"Just ask the team from France who just won the World Cup … All these people do not look like me, but they are French! They are French," Obama said. during a speech in South Africa to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Nelson Mandela.

French basketball player Evan Fournier also shot on Twitter

Africa won the World Cup for France "Is it Africa that wins when the United States are winning gold medals at the Olympics? ", he said.

What was perculiar and perhaps positive, is that until then there was a lack of discussion about the origins of French players in France itself.

While the victory of the 1998 World Cup with a multiracial team was proclaimed victory for the generation "Black-White-Beur" (Black, White and Arab) and sparked a lot of thought on the advantages of France as a multicultural society, the 2018 victory was announced as a victory for a single color – the blues

"Proud to be blue" were the words decorated across the Arc de Triomphe after the final victory Sunday.

But finally the French players – who had remained silent, perhaps perplexed before the rank – felt obliged to express themselves.

The team's players regularly talked about their pride in playing in a multiracial team that represents a multicultural country. 19659002] It is France. There are many origins here. That's what makes France. Belle, "said team talisman Paul Pogba, before Sunday's final

Perhaps the best answer to the row was by French defender Benjamin Mendy, who responded to a tweet through the site Sporf's web of players put a flag next to each name in the French team.

Mendy responded to the Tweet by simply putting a French flag next to each player's names with the word "fixed" [19659002] be the last word.