With hundreds of athletes lining up behind Mbappé’s call to block the National Rally, the battle over France’s next president is spilling from parliament into living rooms and football stadiums.
Magdaléna Fajtová
One of the most famous footballers in the world has repeatedly called on people not to vote for the National Rally. The party has responded by mocking him.
French football star Kylian Mbappé has thrown himself into a match on home turf. His opponent is the National Rally, the far-right, anti-immigration party of Marine Le Pen. Mbappé said in a recent interview with the American monthly Vanity Fair that he feared for the future of his country if it were to be led by a National Rally president.
National Rally representatives responded with jibes that when Mbappe left Paris Saint-Germain, the club went on to win the Champions League. But at the same time, they are aware of his popularity and status, commenting that the “elitist” Mbappé should focus on football rather than politics.
Mbappé countered that, as a French citizen, he is entitled to express his views on politics and concerns about what France would look like if next year’s elections were won by Le Pen or her party colleague Jordan Bardella, who, according to opinion polls, are strong contenders.
The affair quickly filled the pages of French and European media and became another battleground in the culture wars. National Rally spokesperson Julien Odoul said that Mbappé should not behave like a “political activist”, because as France captain he represented the whole country, including millions of National Rally voters. Conservative journalist Geoffroy Lejeune called on coach Didier Deschamps not to select Mbappé, arguing that he was creating bad chemistry in the team.
Deschamps has stood up for his star player, saying he had every right to freedom of expression – as have a number of French media and public figures, including Paris deputy mayor Emmanuel Grégoire.
Two hundred followers
The clash between Mbappé and National Rally politicians started two years ago when, ahead of snap parliamentary elections, the player appealed to young people not to vote for political extremists. “Extremists stand at the gates of power. We have a chance to decide the future of our country,” he said, adding that he wanted to go on being proud of the French shirt he was soon to wear at the European Championship.
Mbappé did not name any specific party and his remarks to journalists at a Euro 2024 press conference were in response to a question about his reaction to comments made by team-mate Marcus Thuram – who had said in an interview a few days earlier that he wished the far-right National Rally would not come to power.
Odoul responded to Mbappé in a similar vein on X, writing that he had “had enough of privileged preachers who think the French are idiots.” Later, on French television, he softened his words, saying that Kylian Mbappé was a fantastic player with whom he shared “an aversion to extremism and a rejection of aggressiveness, which is the hallmark of the far left.” He said he did not see Mbappé’s warning as being directed at the National Rally.
But more than two hundred French athletes then followed Mbappé’s lead, calling in an open letter on the public to reject the far right. In the end, despite its success in the first round – which Mbappé described as catastrophic – the party did not win the election. It came third, behind the left-wing National Popular Front coalition and President Macron’s centrist Together coalition.
The French electoral system has historically been unfavourable to the far right. It is a two-round system in which people in 577 constituencies elect their member of parliament. When a far-right candidate makes it to the second round, voters from across the spectrum often unite against them – this has also happened in presidential elections.
