Mariano Rajoy, former president of Spain, wrote a column for El Debate and uttered the phrase no one expected: the French national team has “a squad of the highest level. Yes, but without French players”. He published it just before the 2026 World Cup semifinal between Spain and France, and the bomb exploded within hours.
The French embassy in Madrid was quick to respond with figures: of the 26 called up, 23 were born in France, and the other three—Olise, Thuram and Samba—are also French even though they were born abroad. The French interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, described the remarks as “absolutely unacceptable”, while Fabien Roussell spoke directly of “filthy racism”.
Even Pedro Sánchez came out to question his predecessor: he asked why one should determine who is French based on their surname, place of birth, or skin color. Rajoy wanted to talk about football. He ended up unleashing a political war between two countries just hours before a match.