Mariano Rajoy drew criticism for an opinion piece published on Spanish website El Debate ahead of the World Cup semi-finals.
Published July 12, 2026
Spain’s conservative former prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has been criticized not only at home but also in neighboring France for saying that there are “no French players” on the Spanish national team.
The comments, published in an editorial on Spanish online news site El Debate on Sunday, come as Spain prepares to face France in an epic World Cup semi-final on Tuesday.
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Spain’s current prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, condemned the remarks as “xenophobic”.
“There are still people who measure belonging by their surname, place of birth, and skin color. Others measure their belonging by their roots in a country and their will to contribute to that country,” the Socialist Party leader wrote to X.
“Spain belongs to those who love it and work for it. It does not belong to those who humiliate it with xenophobic statements.”
Transport Minister Oscar Puente dismissed Rajoy as a “post-Franco idiot.”
French politicians also slammed Rajoy’s comments.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told French channel BFMTV that this was “absolutely unacceptable”.
Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel compared Rajoy’s comments to widely criticized statements by Paraguayan senator Celeste Amarilla. After Paraguay were eliminated by France in the round of 16, she said star player Kylian Mbappé was a “colonized Cameroonian pretending to be French”.
“They can’t stop hurling this disgusting racism,” Roussel said.
Anti-discrimination minister Aurore Berges also condemned the “repeated outbursts of racism.”
“It’s time to stop them and let the sport become a sport again, where you are judged solely on your own talent and not on any other criteria,” she said.
France’s Minister for Overseas Territories Naima Mouche said the comments were evidence of “a systematic and widespread hatred of France and what this country is about.”
“Every time Les Bleus wins, the same racist obsessions and insults reappear,” she said.
France’s Socialist Party leader Olivier Fauré said on the X show that France has “no skin color and no religion.”
The French Embassy in Madrid also responded with a social media post.
“All the players in the French team are French. Of the 26 players, 23 were born in France. There are also three French players who were born abroad.”
French Football Federation president Philippe Diallo said in a post that Rajoy’s comments had “unacceptable racist overtones”.
