World Cup: Kylian Mbappé explains his choice to represent France, amid ongoing racist criticisms questioning the identity of Black French players
Posted by Citaszion
World Cup: Kylian Mbappé explains his choice to represent France, amid ongoing racist criticisms questioning the identity of Black French players
Posted by Citaszion
9 Comments
He can say that because there was no doubt he would play for France even when he was 17. A lot of dual nationals don’t have that option but they do want to experience the thrill and visibility of international football.
It’s nice to hear a footballer who can think critically and articulate his thoughts.
He’s spot on here, I grew up in an area with racial tensions and it was always the National Front and Combat 18 types who argued that black Liverpudlians weren’t English.
Mbappe was born in France, grew up in France, and is as French as Charles De Gaulle was.
yeah, always hated this in WC or Olympics where you get folks “choosing” one nationality because XYZ – and no hate to them since most of those people were born in one place and moved at the age of 5 or later to a different place and how to determin where you should play is also weird
In Poland we got a bunch of players only because they couldn’t make their national teams and the presidents handing out Polish nationality a few weeks before Euro or World Cup.
Perfectly articulated. I feel bad for any black player because when they score, they’re embraced by their country but a missed penalty or goal and the racists come out in droves. Your home is your home. No one else should define it for you.
Even if multiple players were to go back and play for nations like Cameroon, Algeria, Nigeria, etc. after junior development in Europe, a few good players isn’t gonna change anything. It’s such a big project that I don’t believe it should be on the shoulders of an athlete who only has so much time in their career and hasn’t even grown up there. And of course the narrative gets used by the far-right to question a player’s pride in their background
Kylian is so insightful and intelligent!
…and fiiiiiine af 😍
When these countries what to do their best they call on the people they treat the worst.
i’ma be real, if france only accepted white french players, the team wouldn’t go anywhere
most of the sports in france (and in a lot of western countries) have been absolutely carried by minorities, the issue is that france (and the west) then turns around and starts being racist against the same people who win them these prizes
the french will cheer for them at a win and then turn around and call these same players the nword, monkey etc the second they lose
there’s also another issue when it comes to representing your own country that you ethnically belong, as most of these countries are quite poor and the people don’t have as many chances and such as a support system as they do in western countries
i genuinely believe that if moroccans, algerians etc had the same opportunities to train, including better trainers, stadiums etc, they’d absolutely dominate everything, the issue is that they don’t, but i can’t blame them for repping the countries they grew up in either
it’s a really complicated issue and we shouldn’t blame his or anyone else’s choice. white french not seeing black french as french ‘enough’ doesn’t take away from them being french
So well said. Mbappe is the only jersey I own.