European Football Championships on channels 14.6.–14.7. Go to the competition website from this link.
It’s bubbling in France. The country’s most famous athlete and the number one star of the national football team Kylian Mbappé took a strong stand on Sunday when he made an appeal to French youth regarding the upcoming parliamentary elections.
France, led by Mbappé, will start the European football championships in Germany against Austria on Monday evening. The World Cup silver medalist from just over a year and a half ago is perhaps the biggest favorite to win the European Championship.
On the eve of the opening game, Mbappé made an extraordinary exit.
– The European Championships are an important part of our careers, but in this situation we should not be detached from the world around us. Especially when it comes to our own country. We know that this is a very important moment in the history of our country. The situation is unprecedented, Mbappé said.
– That’s why I want to address my speech to the French people and especially to the younger generation. I believe we are a generation that can make a difference. We see that the extreme right is on the verge of power. We have the opportunity to choose the future direction of our country. That’s why I ask young people to vote and understand the importance of the situation.
Under the leadership of the National Alliance, far-right movements in France received almost 40 percent of the votes in the European elections, which is why the French president Emmanuel Macron dissolved the country’s parliament.
The first round of the new parliamentary elections will be held on June 30 and the second round on July 7.
The point of comparison 22 years ago is not quite valid either
Outings like Mbappé are rare for athletes at such a mega-class level. They usually refrain from commenting on the politics of the day. The French sports magazine L’Equipe applied for a reference point more than twenty years ago before the 2002 World Cup.
The then French superstar Zinedine Zidane said well in advance of the summer contests in April that the National Alliance’s presidential candidate Jean Marie Le Pen does not represent French values. At that time, Le Pen was competing Jacques Chiracia against in the second round of the presidential election.
However, now Mbappé spoke only a day before the opening of the European Championships in France.
The 25-year-old Mbappé hopes to be able to use his own voting power as well as possible.
– We need to recognize our values, which are diversity, tolerance and respect. This cannot be denied. I know that many young people say that “one election does not change anything.” On the contrary, all sounds matter. This is not an idle day. I hope we make the right decision. I hope we can wear the French shirt proudly on July 7, Mbappé spoke.
At that stage of the EC tournament, the competitions have progressed to the semi-finals.
The twists and turns of France’s domestic politics have been a hot topic in the national football team’s press conferences before the European Championships. On Saturday, about the French players Marcus Thuram attracted attention with his own comment about the situation.
Thuram described the current situation in France as “sad and really serious”.
– We must urge everyone to go out and vote so that we can fight to prevent the National Coalition from winning, Thuram stressed.
According to Thuram, everyone in the French team agrees with him.
Mbappé did not take a stand on individual parties. However, Mbappé reminded about freedom of speech and sided with Thuram.
– I am against all kinds of extremist thinking and ideas that cause discord, described the megastar, who is also the captain of France.
The national football team represents a different kind of France
Director of research at the University of Helsinki, familiar with French politics Niilo Kauppi also remembers as a point of comparison the noise from 2002, when the French national team published an anonymous letter before the presidential election. In it, they condemned Le Pen’s racist statements, which, according to the letter, were dangerous to democracy and freedoms.
Kauppi sees that the French national football team has always been a multicultural group and thus represented a different kind of France than the country’s political class. Now this different kind of France speaks through Mbappé.
– This is about the fact that more than 30 percent voted for a far-right party in the European elections, which openly questions equality and multicultural France. The background of these exits is, of course, an emergency. This party is seen as a danger to democracy, Kauppi assessed and considered the players’ actions brave and fine.
According to Kaup, the recent upheavals in French political history are ones that have not been seen before. The extreme right wins the election by a significant margin. The president, on the other hand, reacted to the election result in an exceptional way.
According to Kaup, Macron should not have dissolved the parliament.
– Macron could have just stated that this is now the European elections, but he decided to do this. This is quite a bit of poker playing. I think it’s quite worrying, the researcher states.
In what way?
– Macron is soloing and is an outspoken politician. If such a bet succeeds, that’s great. If you fail, it can have pretty catastrophic effects. Just like in this case. Let’s see how it works out, Kauppi estimates.
A statement from the whole team yet?
After the exits of Mbappé and Thuram, there was also a strong reflection on how such turmoil will affect the success of the national football team in the upcoming European Championships.
Published by the French Football Federation on Saturday After Thuram’s comments, a press release was issued in which he supported the players’ freedom of speech and gave his support for voting, but also emphasized the union’s neutrality. According to the union, everyone should understand its neutrality and respect it.
Mbappé admitted at the press conference that they have thought about making some kind of statement with the team in one of the elections. However, in Mbappé’s opinion, it would be important to do it with the strength of the whole team, so that, for example, younger players would not feel too much pressure from the public.
– We are fully aware of the situation at the moment. Some are less ready or willing to talk about it publicly. The aim is to protect the players and the French team, but we have spoken about it. I believe we will do something soon, Mbappé said.
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