ALMOST all French aspirations, and anxieties, seem to crowd into the game of football. Ever since the country won the world cup in 1998, with a multi-racial team made up of black, blanc, beur (“black, white and Arab”), the French have yearned to recapture that moment of post-colonial conviviality and national euphoria. On June 10th, when Europe’s biggest football tournament kicks off at the Stade de France outside Paris, the hosts once again hope to find unity as a nation through victory on the pitch. The tricolour flags are ready. Yet the French have an ambiguous relationship with football, which has become a touchstone for wider unease about wealth, capitalism, foreigners and race.
The latest controversy was prompted by allegations of racism over the selection of the French tournament squad. Karim Benzema, a French striker of Algerian origin, charged that he was left out because the manager, Didier Deschamps, bowed to racist pressure (a claim undercut by the fact that half of those who made the team are black). Eric Cantona, a former French player, made the same allegation. Jamel Debbouze, a French actor of Moroccan origin…
The Economist: Europe
