Former Spanish PM Rajoy Links France’s Football Success to Lack of French-Born Squad Members

Nadia Massih introduces Dr. Leon Moosavi, a sociologist specializing in race and religion and a reader in the Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology at the University of Liverpool. Dr. Moosavi contends that while racism targeting the French national football team is frequently treated as merely a sporting issue, the sport actually serves as a prominent arena where profound political and social tensions are expressed. He cautions against interpreting racist abuse directed at players like Kylian Mbappé as isolated acts by a minority of extremists, instead situating such attacks within broader discussions of national identity, immigration, belonging, and the mainstreaming of extremist language and exclusionary politics across many Western democracies.

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