As the "Invincible Armada" of Spain prepares to face the "Art Football" of France for a spot in the 2026 North and Central America World Cup final on July 15, the French national team has once again become the subject of controversial racist remarks. According to a report by French media outlet RMC Sport, former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy made disparaging comments about the French national team in a column recently contributed to the local publication El Debate. Rajoy served as the Prime Minister of Spain from December 2011 to May 2018. In his column, while congratulating Spain on reaching the semifinals, Rajoy commented on their upcoming opponent, the French national team. He stated, "We must remember that France has won the World Cup twice and was the runner-up in the last tournament," adding, "They have won every match in this World Cup and are currently ranked number one in the FIFA rankings." Immediately after this praise, he made the problematic remark. He noted that "the level of the squad is also very high," but then added, "They are achieving all these results without any French people." This comment was interpreted as a jab at the fact that the French national team includes many players from diverse racial backgrounds and immigrant families, leading to immediate criticism that the remark was racist. The controversy surrounding Rajoy's comments has been further amplified as they come just one week after the worst racist remarks in history were directed at French team captain Kylian Mbappe. Previously, Paraguayan Senator Celeste Amarilla, whose country faced France in the Round of 16, faced fierce backlash from the French side after making racist remarks targeting Mbappe, calling him "a person from colonial-era Cameroon who is desperately pretending to be French." Mbappe is a descendant of immigrants, born to a Cameroonian father and an Algerian-born mother. Although Senator Amarilla's office claimed it was "freedom of expression" and refused to apologize, the Paraguayan Senate, to which she belongs, went as far as to pass a resolution opposing her remarks. The semifinal match between European football powerhouses France and Spain will take place at Dallas Stadium at 4:00 AM on July 15 (KST). All of the "Big 4" in the FIFA rankings have survived to the semifinals of this tournament, marking the first time in World Cup history that the top four nations in the FIFA rankings have all reached the final four.
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