3 Nationality: a claimed win for diverse France?

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A photograph of a crowd with French flags and setting off flairs of the French flag’s colours.

Colonial relations have played a significant role in the development of various footballing nations and international relationships. In France, opportunities afforded by colonialism have had a largely positive impact on their national team, and the team have often been considered as representing ethnic diversity (White, 2018). On both occasions when they won the men’s World Cup (1998 and 2018) more than 50 per cent of their players had at least one parent who was not born in France.

You may recall the video used in Session 1 which highlighted how the French team was put at the front and centre of the nation’s campaign on diversity following their victory in 1998. The slogan ‘Black Blanc Beur’ (Black, White and Arab) was used in the media to celebrate a supposed integrated France (Smith, 2018), a nation which some long considered as the most racially divided country in Europe (Hussey, 2006). In the lead up to the 2022 men’s World Cup one journalist wrote ‘football is an intensely political issue in French society, where it straddles racial and religious divisions’ (Sage, 2022).

Activity 3 The development of multicultural France

Timing: Allow approximately 20 minutes

Watch the video below from Vox, an American news site, which outlines how France developed into a more multicultural society, and its subsequent influence on football. As you watch, think about the following questions:

1. Why was there an influx of immigrants into France post Second World War?
2. What long-term impact did this influx have on France’s national football team?

Download this video clip.Video player: author="hrp44" timestamp="20221024T104554+0100"

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Transcript: Video 3 Why France produces the most World Cup players

[MUSIC PLAYING]

NARRATOR

This is Portugal playing Morocco at the 2018 World Cup. Portugal was the heavy favourite and won the game one zero. The result wasn't all that interesting, but this photo is. This Portugal player wasn't born in Portugal, and these Morocco players weren't born in Morocco. See, soccer's regulating body FIFA allows athletes to play for any nation they have a clear connection to, including the country a player's parents or grandparents are from. In this year's World Cup, 82 players are playing for countries they weren't born in.

So where are they coming from? If we plotted on a map, one country stands out. France is where the largest number of all World Cup players were born. Brazil has the next highest total but it's not even close. France has had the most native players and coaches in the last four World Cups and their dominance has been on the rise. So what's so special about France?

At the end of World War 2, much of France was destroyed. The government began recruiting labourers from Southern and Eastern Europe as well as colonies in northern Africa to rebuild the country during the late 1940s and 1950s. During that time, France brought in more immigrants than any other European country. And in the 1960s and early 70s, France's economy grew rapidly, and a labour shortage led to another wave of immigrants with even more arrivals from French colonies throughout Africa in the Caribbean. Many of them settled in major housing developments just outside of the major cities.

At the same time, France was also in a sports crisis, especially the National Football team. Between 1960 and 1974, France failed to qualify for three World Cups and three European championships. The French Football Federation decided the way to get better was to create a national structure for developing talent. So it established one of Europe's first Football Academy systems.

In 1972, a national training centre was opened in Vichy. In four years later, the Federation worked with top French football clubs to set up a wider network of academies to recruit and train local youth. In 1988 the National Training Centre moved to a forested suburb South of Paris called Clairefontaine. And by the early 1990s, this French soccer system was one of the best in the world, developing talented players all over France. And the system delivered results.

COMMENTATOR

Foward, Zidane!

NARRATOR

Un.

COMMENTATOR

Zidane again!

NARRATOR

Deux.

COMMENTATOR

Vieira. Patrick continues his run--

NARRATOR

Et trois.

COMMENTATOR

--in the back, and he scores.

NARRATOR

In 1998, the French National team called Les Bleus won the World Cup. A moment that was celebrated throughout the country. And it seemed to be a breakthrough for French multiculturalism as well since several players were either immigrants themselves or children of immigrants who came to France in the 20th century. The team was called Black Blanc Beur, meaning Black white Arab, a spin on the three coloUrs of the French flag. But not everyone supported diversity, particularly nationalist politicians like Jean-MarIe Le Pen.

JEAN-MARIE LE PEN

[FRENCH]

NARRATOR

Despite racist criticism, players from immigrant families have continued to make up more and more of France's best talent. Many come from one place in particular. 38% of immigrants to France settle in greater Paris. Most end up in these areas called Banlieues. The French word literally means suburb, but it can also imply immigrant dominated ghettos. Over the years, these areas have frequently seen riots. They have high levels of unemployment, crime and poverty and are in a crisis.

Yet the Banlieues continue to produce some of the most talented soccer players. That's because this is where France's immigration history meets its soccer system. And it's the reason why the city is the world's number one talent pool for soccer. Since 2002, the number of Parisian born players at the World Cup has continued to rise. Out of all French players at the 2018 World Cup, 16 were born and raised in greater Paris. And the French national team has eight. That includes Kylian Mbappé, France's 19-year-old superstar who was born to an Algerian mother and Cameroonian father in the Parisian suburb of Bondy, and was trained through the French system at Clairefontaine.

But Parisian players don't just play for France. Over the years, FIFA's eligibility rules have allowed them to play for countries like the Ivory Coast, Morocco, Algeria, Portugal, Cameroon, and Togo. Four players on this year's Senegal team are from the greater Paris area as well as this player on Tunisia. And remember this photo? Both of these players were born in Paris. That's what's special about French soccer. The combination of an established academy system and its unique immigration history is producing incredible talent for France and the rest of the world.

End transcript: Video 3 Why France produces the most World Cup players

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Video 3 Why France produces the most World Cup players

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Discussion

1. Post Second World War labourers were recruited from Europe and French colonies to help repair the damaged caused by the conflict. A labour shortage in the 1960s and 70s saw more immigrants arrive from French colonies in Africa and the Caribbean.
2. France struggled to qualify for several international tournaments throughout the 1960s and 70s. Consequently the French Football Federation created a national structure for developing talent. Over the years several elite players, including those in both their World Cup winning squads, were immigrants themselves or children of immigrants who came to France following both the war itself, and from Algeria in the aftermath of their independence from France in 1962.

Despite being hailed as the symbol of a new harmonious multiracial nation in 1998, some years later football became a ‘racial battleground’ through representing the polarities of the French population (Hussey, 2006). Developments in France and many other nations emphasise Anderson’s (1991) concept of the ‘imagined community’, through which the significance of sport in expressions of nationality result in bringing a nation together and help people to perceive themselves as one nation (Nosal et al., 2021). This raises questions over whether eleven individual players really represent a national community.

Evidence suggests a supposed unity when teams are winning. Yet, as seen during France’s mediocre performances between 2001 and 2017 and Germany’s Mesut Özil’s experiences, when performances aren’t meeting expectations all sorts of other issues get propagated. This shows an uneasiness around the representation of the football nation by players with migration backgrounds, and also the fragility of national belonging (van Campenhout and van Houtum, 2021).