Spain’s former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has found himself at the center of an international controversy with France after he wrote an opinion piece stating the French national soccer team has no Frenchmen.
The comments, issued by Rajoy through a recently-published opinion piece, sparked outrage among French government officials and politicians. Spain’s socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez accused his predecessor of xenophobia.
Rajoy served as Prime Minister of Spain between 2011 and 2018, when Sánchez succeeded him as head of the Spanish government. Over the past weeks, the former Prime Minister has published several opinion pieces at the Spanish outlet El Debate commenting on Spain’s 2026 FIFA World Cup matches.
On Friday, El Debate published Rajoy’s latest World Cup-related piece titled, Hoy llegó el desquite, (“Today was the day for revenge,”) centered around Spain’s recent victory against Belgium and the upcoming July 14 semi-final match between Spain and France.
In the piece, Rajoy commented on the performance of France’s national soccer team — stating that France has been a two-time FIFA World Cup champion, where the runner-up team in 2022, and have won every of its matches so far during the 2026 World Cup before saying that the French team has no Frenchmen.
“In addition, they have an extremely high-level squad. That said, without any Frenchmen. And they’re playing very well. They’ll be a formidable opponent,” Rajoy wrote.
The remarks were reportedly attributed by international outlets to the immigrant or former French colony backgrounds that many of the current members of France’s national soccer team have.
Rajoy’s comments were met with a barrage of condemnation and accusations of racism from French government officials. Speaking with French broadcaster BFMTV on Sunday, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said that Rajoy’s statements were “completely unacceptable.”
“That’s completely not what France is about. France is a country of diversity where everyone can thrive and find their place,” Nuñez said.
The French embassy in Spain, for its part, published a social media post stating that “without wanting to get into a controversy,” all players on France’s national team are French.
“Of the 26 players, 23 were born in France. The 3 who were born abroad are French as well,” the text concluded.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez condemned his predecessor over his remarks, doing so through a social media post published on Sunday.
“There are those who still measure belonging by surname, place of birth, or skin color,” Sánchez’s post read. “Others measure it by our roots in a country and our will to contribute to it. Playing soccer. Caring for our elders. Or opening businesses.”
“Spain belongs to those who love it and work for it. Not to those who shame it with xenophobic statements,” he continued. “France, we’ll see you in the semifinals. May the best one win and may racism lose.”
The backlash at Rajoy over the contents of his opinion piece marked the second diplomatic incident over the past days involving France’s national soccer team and international politicians.
Last week, Paraguayan senator Celeste Amarilla and French soccer team captain Kylian Mbappé found themselves at the center of a diplomatic spat after the Senator accused Mbappé of “gender violence” after Mbappé described her as a “despicable woman unworthy of her post.”
Mbappé issued the comments against Sen. Amarilla after the Paraguayan Senator claimed that the French soccer “sucked on coconuts” as a child and referred to him as a “colonized Cameroonian pretending hard to be French.”