ARLINGTON — Despite a 2-0 loss to Spain on Tuesday, France’s global impact was on full display in and around Dallas Stadium.
Whether it’s by sheer force of nature from arguably the most talented squad at the 2026 FIFA World Cup or by bringing in new fans with an attractive style of play and global stars like Kylian Mbappé, France has fans from all over the world.
Another factor is the international background of many of the players. Seventeen of the 26 players in the French national team are of African descent, including the majority of the starting 11, and three others are of Caribbean descent, such as starting keeper Mike Maignan.
Although it’s connected the team to many parts of the world, that multicultural diversity has sparked the ire of high figures in other countries.
After a post-match incident between Mbappé and Paraguayan keeper Orlando Gill in the round of 16, Paraguayan senator Celeste Amarilla unleashed a racist tirade against the French forward saying he was a “colonized Cameroonian, trying so hard to pretend to be French,” before also comparing him to a chimpanzee.
In the wake of backlash for her comments and after a response from Mbappé on social media, Amarilla doubled down on her comments. The Paraguayan senate since passed a motion condemning the senator’s remarks.
“It’s very unfortunate that anyone, especially the French players, have to go through something like that,” said 19-year-old fan Rickey Browne at the semifinal matchup. “But honestly, I’m very proud of how the team has rallied behind [Mbappé]. He’s still smiling in practice and being thankful. It just shows when people try to drag you down and try to pull you down for something like our skin color; it’s all about how you respond.”
Browne, who is Black and from Charlotte, N.C., became a Mbappé fan following the 2022 World Cup final in which he scored a hat trick against Argentina. Mbappé has now starred in three consecutive World Cups and moved to Spanish giant Real Madrid in 2024. Browne and his father, Richard, have been to matches in all three host countries celebrating his graduation from high school and plan to attend the final in New Jersey as well.
“I think [France is] just a huge inspiration to us of the minority,” Browne said. “They’re showing us that even though there’s a perception with our race, that we’re viewed as lower, we can still do the things that everyone else can. It’s a truly remarkable team that has given inspiration to us in the minority community.”
In the build-up to the semifinal between France and Spain, former Spain prime minister Mariano Rajoy penned a column that stated, “there are no French players” in this current France team. The vast majority of France’s World Cup roster was born and raised in the country.
“I believe it’s quite unfortunate [the comments],” said Shyam Nair, an Argentina fan from Kerala, India, who was supporting France at the semifinal. “FIFA is something that I always look forward to, for connecting the world together. … even as a kid growing in the southernmost part of India, just watching all these things, FIFA was an opportunity for me to connect to the world.”
Current Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares has since said Rajoy’s remarks do not reflect Spain’s attitude toward France’s multiculturalism.
This isn’t the first time France’s diversity has been the focus of attention.
Many of the same players were on the 2018 World Cup-winning squad where former Daily Show host Trevor Noah said, “Africa won the World Cup!” after their victory. Noah himself is South African.
Even as early as 2002 just four years after France’s first-ever World Cup win, then far-right French party leader Jean-Marie Le Pen criticized players such as Zinedine Zidane, who was born to Algerian parents, for being “fake Frenchmen who don’t sing the Marseillaise [the French national anthem] or visibly don’t know it.”
“I think people just get a little jealous about multicultural countries like France,” said Toni Muziotti, who grew up in Marseille but moved to the Bay Area four years ago, at the semifinal. “We’re really used to different people from different cultures. … It’s just kind of ridiculous because we’re so used to living with people. Where I come from, there’s Black people, Arab and Chinese. You’re gonna see everything. To us, we feel kind of bad for them, not being able to realize a French national team could have like people of all colors, and it doesn’t matter to us.”
Muziotti dreamt of attending a World Cup match his whole life.
It only made sense for him to finally make the trek to Arlington to see his home country play, and, by the looks of the crowd, France’s appeal has expanded well beyond its borders, whether people like it or not.