Sanchez Rejects Ex‑Prime Minister’s Xenophobic Remarks on French Football Team

Former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy attracted criticism both domestically and in France on Sunday after claiming that France’s national football team lacked French players.

His remark, published in an opinion piece on the Spanish news website El Debate, emerged as Spain prepares to meet France on Tuesday in a highly anticipated World Cup semi‑final.

Spain’s current Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez denounced the comment as xenophobic.

“Spain belongs to those who love it and work for it, not to those who shame it with xenophobic statements,” the Socialist leader wrote on X.

Some continue to gauge belonging by surname, birthplace, or skin colour, while others evaluate it by one’s deep ties to a nation and willingness to contribute,” the Socialist leader wrote on X.

French politicians have also sharply criticized Rajoy’s remark.

France “has no skin colour or religion”, said French Socialist party leader Olivier Faure on X.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told French broadcaster BFMTV that Rajoy’s comment was absolutely unacceptable.

Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel likened Rajoy’s remark to the widely criticized comments of Paraguayan Senator Celeste Amarilla, who, after Paraguay’s elimination by France in the round of 16, described star player Kylian Mbappé as a “colonised Cameroonian who has really pretended to be French”.

“They simply cannot stop themselves from propagating this disgusting racism,” said Roussel.

Naima Moutchou, France’s Minister for Overseas Territories, described the remarks as evidence of “systematic and widespread hatred of France and what the nation represents”.

Whenever Les Bleus win, the same racist obsessions and insults re‑emerge,” she added.

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