Former Spanish PM Says France Has ‘No French Players’ and the FFF President Is Furious

France’s football federation president Philippe Diallo didn’t hold back after former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy suggested the French national team isn’t really French. Rajoy, who ran Spain from 2011 to 2018, wrote in a column for El Debate that Les Bleus are playing well and sit atop the FIFA rankings but that they essentially have no actual French players on the squad. That landed about as well as you’d expect.

Diallo fired back on social media, calling Rajoy’s comments a textbook example of intolerable racism. “Our players certainly don’t need to receive any nationality certificate from the Spanish Prime Minister,” Diallo wrote. “The France national team is the France national team.” The federation president didn’t stop there. He said the remarks raise questions about the climate that allows that kind of garbage to float around in the first place.

This isn’t the first ugly moment for France at this World Cup. During the round of 32, a Paraguayan senator named Celeste Amarilla called Kylian Mbappé a “colonised Cameroonian desperately trying to pass himself off as French.” The FFF described that one as utterly abhorrent and unacceptable. The UN Human Rights office weighed in. The Paraguayan government distanced itself. French prosecutors opened an investigation. Diallo called Amarilla’s comments criminal and reprehensible.

Now Rajoy’s column has added another layer. France’s interior minister Laurent Nunez called it completely unacceptable. French politicians across the board have condemned it. The irony is that Rajoy made these comments right before Tuesday’s semifinal between Spain and France, a game already loaded with tension on the field. Now there’s a whole separate mess brewing off it.

France’s squad is famously diverse. Players like Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé grew up in France. Some have family roots in Africa or the Caribbean. That’s not new for France. It’s been true for decades. The 1998 World Cup-winning team was often celebrated as a symbol of a multicultural France. That same diversity now gets Rajoy saying it’s not really a French team. Diallo’s point is pretty simple: these guys wear the blue jersey. They represent the country. They’ve been doing that their whole careers. Questioning their identity because of their skin color or ancestry isn’t subtle. It’s racism.

Diallo didn’t mince words, and judging by the reaction in France, he’s not alone. The federation has been aggressive in defending players against these attacks. The investigation into Amarilla is still ongoing. Whether Rajoy faces any formal consequences or just public outrage remains to be seen. But France’s response has been clear: they’re not letting this slide.