Rajoy's France column sparks racism row

What Rajoy actually wrote

The precise wording of the full column hasn't been reproduced in detail by available sources, but the thrust of it is clear enough: Rajoy questioned the Frenchness of the French squad. It's a line of argument that has surfaced at every major tournament for the better part of three decades — the idea that a team built on players of African and Caribbean heritage somehow doesn't represent the nation it plays for. Rajoy dressed it up as a newspaper column. The reaction suggests not many people were fooled by the packaging.

The political blowback

According to The Guardian, condemnation has come from political figures on both sides of the Pyrenees. That cross-border dimension matters: this isn't just a domestic Spanish row about a retired conservative politician saying something inflammatory. French political leaders have responded directly, which means Rajoy's column has become a diplomatic irritant at the exact moment Spain and France are preparing to meet on a football pitch at the biggest tournament on earth. The timing — whether deliberate or spectacularly misjudged — could hardly be worse.

Rajoy served as Spain's Prime Minister from 2011 to 2018. He is not a fringe voice. He ran a G20 country. That's precisely why the column landed with the weight it did.

Why this keeps happening

The 'they're not really French' argument is one of the oldest and most persistent dog-whistles in European football. It was aimed at the 1998 World Cup-winning squad. It was aimed at the 2018 winners. It resurfaces, reliably, every time France go deep in a tournament — which, given the talent they consistently produce, is most tournaments. The argument has never been about football. It has always been about who gets to be considered truly belonging to a country, and the answer the argument implies has never been subtle.

France's squad draws heavily from communities with roots in sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Caribbean. Those players were born in France, grew up in France, came through French academies, and chose to represent France. The column Rajoy wrote does not engage with any of that. It simply asserts they are not French. That is the definition of the thing he's being accused of.

The semi-final backdrop

Spain are in the last four of the 2026 World Cup. So, presumably, is France — which makes this the worst possible week for a former head of the Spanish government to publish something that reads, to a significant number of people, as a racially motivated attack on their opponents' national identity. Whatever happens on the pitch, Rajoy has handed France's players a narrative. Footballers have won World Cups on less motivation than that.

Rajoy has not, at the time of writing, been reported as having withdrawn or clarified the remarks.