{"id":64076,"date":"2022-11-30T11:06:01","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T10:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jazairhope.org\/?p=64076"},"modified":"2022-11-30T11:06:01","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T10:06:01","slug":"how-immigration-made-french-football-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jazairhope.org\/en\/how-immigration-made-french-football-better\/","title":{"rendered":"How immigration \u2018made French football better\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Polish miners to heroes of Algerian independence, immigrants have greatly influenced French football.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On July 12, 1998, France won the World Cup for the first time in its history, thumping a Brazil side that included stars like Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos in a final at the Stade de France in Paris.<\/p>\n

After the final whistle, hundreds of thousands of joyous French fans poured onto the Champs-Elysees to celebrate the 3-0 victory. A picture of Zinedine Zidane, the mercurial midfielder who had scored two goals that night, was projected onto the Arc de Triumph along with the words \u201cMerci ZiZou\u201d \u2013 Zidane\u2019s nickname \u2013 and \u201cZidane President\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Zidane, a second-generation Algerian immigrant from a working-class area of Marseille, had been part of a team that included players of Armenian, Ghanaian, Senegalese and Guadeloupean descent. As his name rang through the streets, many heralded the victory as a historic footballing achievement and a celebration of a new multicultural France united under one flag.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The success appeared to be the perfect antidote to a nation struggling to come to terms with its colonial past. The\u00a0Algerian War of Independence<\/a>\u00a0(1954-62), which ended 132 years of colonial rule and represented the final collapse of the French empire, had only been recognised as a war by the French state in 1999.<\/p>\n

The team, typically known as Les Bleus but nicknamed this time \u201cBlack, Blanc, Beur\u201d (Black, White and Arab) in the media during the 1998 tournament, was hailed as a shining example of successful integration. French newspaper Le Monde labelled them a \u201csymbol of the diversity and of the unity of the country\u201d. Then-French President Jacques Chirac described them as a \u201ctricolour and multicolour team\u201d that had created a \u201cbeautiful image of France and its humanity\u201d.<\/p>\n

Just two years later, the French team would go on to win the European Championships, with the hero of France 98, Zidane, being named player of the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u2018Mirage\u2019<\/h3>\n

Despite the positivity surrounding the team\u2019s success, simmering racial tensions soon began to reappear.<\/p>\n

The victories in 1998 and 2000 had been a source of embarrassment for the far-right party, the Front National (FN). Its then leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, had infamously claimed in 1996 that\u00a0the France team was \u201cartificial\u201d<\/a>\u00a0as it contained too many non-white players. He would later describe the French side as \u201cunworthy\u201d representatives who did not know the words of the country\u2019s national anthem.<\/p>\n

In 2000, 36 percent of respondents to a French\u00a0survey<\/a>\u00a0said they thought there were too many players of foreign origin on the national team.<\/p>\n

A year later, France played Algeria in Paris for the first time since the North African nation gained independence in 1962. What was supposed to be a moment of reconciliation descended into \u201ca horrible mess\u201d, says Timothee Maymon, a sports journalist focusing on French football. Before the match, the French national anthem was booed. The match was later abandoned after a pitch invasion in the 76th minute.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe thought that 1998 and 2000 would be the final part of this new France, playing together, winning together, being able to forget about origins,\u201d says Maymon. However, the events that day showed that idea to be a \u201cmirage\u201d, he adds, noting that the national team would later be used by both sides of the political spectrum when debating the issue of immigration.<\/p>\n

\"France
French riot policemen take positions in front of Algerian supporters at the Stade de France Stadium [File: Xavier Lhospice\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2002, Le Pen unexpectedly advanced to the run-off of the presidential election registering the highest score ever recorded by the French far right.<\/p>\n

Maymon says that although the narrative that projected football as the solution to a more inclusive society was politically convenient, it was, in fact, immigration that had \u201cmade French football better\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the right-wing of [French] politics, they often say there are no white players, but actually, if we stayed with only white players, we would not have been able to win two World Cups\u201d, he explains, referring to 1998 as well as France\u2019s second World Cup win, four years ago in 2018 in Russia.<\/p>\n

He also highlights the Ballon d\u2019Or, a coveted annual football prize, as epitomising French football\u2019s reliance on immigration. Four of France\u2019s five winners are from non-French backgrounds, including Raymond Kopa, the legendary Real Madrid midfielder who came from a family of Polish immigrants; Michel Platini, who is of Italian origin; and Zinedine Zidane and Karim Benzema, who are both of Algerian heritage.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s current team, now competing at the Qatar World Cup 2022, is another example of how immigration has shaped French football. Most players in the starting XI have roots from a wide and diverse set of places, including Dayot Upamecano, who is of Bissau-Guinean descent, and Aurelien Tchouameni, who is of Cameroonian descent.<\/p>\n

\"Benzema
Real Madrid\u2019s Karim Benzema receives the 2022 Ballon d\u2019Or award from Zinedine Zidane [Franck\/Fife\/AFP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A long and rich history of diversity<\/h3>\n

The relationship between French football and immigration to the country dates back to the formation of several teams in the first half of the 20th century. These include RC Lens and AS Saint-Etienne, built around close-knit mining communities composed of Polish and Italian immigrants.<\/p>\n

One such player was Stefan Dembicki, or Stanis, who holds the record for most goals scored in a professional match in France after netting 16 for RC Lens in a first-round Coupe de France match in 1942.<\/p>\n

At the 1938 World Cup held on home soil, France fielded its first Black player, Raoul Diagne, a versatile defender nicknamed \u201cthe Black spider\u201d who was born in French Guiana and was of Senegalese descent.<\/p>\n

That same year Morocco-born Larbi Benbarek transferred from the club US Marocaine Casablanca to Olympique de Marseille in France, scoring 10 goals in his first season. He would go on to represent his adopted country, France, 19 times and make 113 appearances for the Spanish club Atletico Madrid, where he earned the nickname \u201cthe foot of God\u201d. Brazilian superstar Pel\u00e9 famously said about him, \u201cIf I am the king of football, then Larbi Benbarek is the God of it\u201d.<\/p>\n

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#OnThisDay<\/a> in 1954, the legendary Larbi Benbarek, who was posthumously awarded the FIFA Order of Merit in 1998, earned his final international cap, becoming France's oldest player at the age of 40 years and 5 months - a record that stands to this day. #FiersdetreBleus<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/CBK71UVWIS<\/a><\/p>— French Team \u2b50\u2b50 (@FrenchTeam) October 16, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote>