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P The prediction that an African team would win the World Cup before the start of the 21st century ended up in the lead, and this year's tournament in Russia marked the first time since 1982 that none of the knockout stage While this disappointment was difficult to support for the Egyptian, Moroccan, Nigerian, Senegalese and Tunisian fans, the semifinal of Tuesday between France and Belgium is the proof of the The enormous influence of the sons of African immigrants in the European confirmation. The place of football at the top of the world game.
In total, 23 players – exactly 50% – teams Didier Deschamps and Roberto Martínez can trace their ancestry in Africa. In countries where the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates that respectively 6.8% and 12.1% of the population is made up of migrants, it's an astonishing statistic that indicates how much 39, integration has been important.
The 1998 World Cup at home was hailed as a triumph for the " black, white, butter " Captain Deschamps, the success of Kylian Mbappé – the son of a Cameroonian father and an Algerian mother – and her cosmopolitan teammates provided an emphatic retort to bigotry at home. But while some critics of France have been silenced by superb performances, the story was still different in Belgium until recently.
"When all was well, I read newspaper articles and they called me Romelu Lukaku, the Belgian striker," wrote the Manchester United striker in an article for the Players & Players Tribune last month. "When things were not going well, they called me Romelu Lukaku, the Belgian attacker of Congolese origin."
In the team where seven players can trace back to the former Belgian colony, Lukaku and Vincent Kompany – whose father, Pierre, Congolese diplomat, emerged as a figurehead of one. group that has historically suffered a terrible legacy.
A few weeks after the heroism of a peeled teenager for Brazil at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, Brussels hosted the World Fair, an event that lasted for 200 days and was designed to celebrate the advances of the post-war period. There was a stand with 600 Congolese men, women and children presenting their "indigenous conditions" in a manufactured "village scene" – later described as the last "human zoo" in the world.
At the end of the second world war, Belgium had 10 Congolese people on its territory, an estimated number of more than 40,000 people. After the introduction of a national program to use football to facilitate the integration of recent migrants and the transformation of the base at the turn of the century, the results have been spectacular: the "generation "golden" of Belgium appeared.
Their team is almost entirely based abroad, with only Leander Dendoncker from Anderlecht representing the Jupiler League. This contrasts with France, which has nine players drawn from Ligue 1 – one less than the 1998 team. The Premier League has 40 of the remaining 92 players in Russia, far ahead of its main competitor, La Liga, with 12.
It is noticeable that among the semi-finalists, Croatia has the largest number of players born outside. the country they represent, with 15.4%. Appealing to the children of migrants, such as Ivan Rakitic and Mateo Kovacic, born in Switzerland, who grew up in Austria, is vital for a country of just over 4 million inhabitants who is fighting against some of the greatest nations in the world. [19659015] Born
Although nearly 10% of the World Cup players were born outside of the country they represent – Morocco, with 61%, had by far the largest number – Belgium, France and France. England are below average. From Gareth Southgate's team, only Raheem Sterling was born outside of England; 47.8% are children of migrants. This makes it the most ethnically diverse team to represent England at a World Cup – a fact that their manager has not lost.
"In England, we spent a little time losing our modern identity." Southgate said after the victory over Panama. "Of course, I will be judged first on the results of football, but we have a chance to affect other things that are even bigger."
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