“At the 1998 World Cup, we faced France. This time, Paraguay will be facing an African team,” wrote Jose Luis Chilavert on his X account before the France – Paraguay game. The famous Paraguayan goalkeeper gave one of his controversial statements here, and this one was even racist. France is the favorite to win this edition of the World Cup, and their performances so far have been excellent. But a number of black footballers of African origin obviously creates a problem in the minds of people like Chilavert, who probably expects all French people to be white. But one of the reasons this nation is so powerful is the ability to attract and educate all immigrants, who then decide to represent France instead of their country of origin (and sometimes even the country of birth).
WC Countdown: How many Africans are in other teams? As we said before the start of the tournament, France has a stunning 18 players of African descent, a fact acknowledged by a former Arsenal coach. The famous Arsene Wenger was a guest on the “Kroos & Kroos” podcast, hosted by former German international Toni Kroos and spoke about this topic.“I think our success comes from the quality of education, from the identification of talent, which is neglected in many countries, and also from African immigration.
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When you look at the history of French football, our history is very much linked to immigration. The first French Ballon d’Or winner, Kopa, was of Polish origin. Then we had Platini, of Italian descent, then Zidane, of Algerian descent. Papin wasn’t an immigrant, then we had Benzema, of Algerian descent, and now Dembele, of African descent” he said.99
World Cup players come from FranceWenger then explained how it works in detail.“They come because they sense there’s real educational potential in France, and they’re often hungry because they know they have to fight to be the best they can be” explained former Arsenal boss.