Almost 200 French athletes, specifically 175, have signed a statement against the advance of the extreme right in their country. They describe Marie Le Pen’s party as intolerant and unsupportive. Thuram and Mbappé, two key footballers of the French team, also ask for a vote against the National Group, the far-right formation.

Kylian Mbappé, forward of the French team, showed this Sunday his rejection of extremes in politics, in reference to Marine Le Pen’s party. Likewise, he asked his compatriots to vote in the next legislative elections to prevent the extreme right from governing.

“We are in a crucial moment for our country. The Eurocup is important in our career, but we are citizens and we are not disconnected from what is happening in our own country. We are in an unprecedented situation and at an important moment,” highlighted the footballer.

“Are a generation that can make history. We know that the extremes are at the doors of our power. I call on everyone to vote, to become aware of the situation. We have the need to identify with our values ​​of respect. I hope we make the right decision,” she said.

At the press conference was the coach of the French national team, Didier Deschamps, who also couldn’t avoid answering questions about the political situation in his country, despite having tried. For this reason, he had to remember his time as a footballer and Le Pen’s comments in 1996 about the diversity of the French team at that time. In fact, he assured that Le Pen “talks nonsense,” in addition to remembering an anecdote from those years in which the politician “was someone who took the liberty of attacking the players frontally” and as captain he could not let it pass.

Marcus Thuram, also a forward for the French team, considered this Saturday as “very serious” the situation in France with the victory in the European elections of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally and encouraged voting in the legislative elections and “fighting daily” So that it does not happen again”.

“The situation is very, very serious. Very serious. I found out after the game (last Sunday) against Canada [de la victoria de Agrupación Nacional en las elecciones europeas]. “We were all surprised in the locker room,” he explained this Saturday at a press conference from the French team’s concentration in the German city of Paderborn.

“It is the sad reality of our society today. I think there are messages that are broadcast every day on television to help this match [Agrupación Nacional] ascend,” he said. “As Dembélé said, we have to tell everyone to go vote. And, as citizens, We have to fight daily so that this does not happen again and that the National Group does not pass”, in the next legislative electionsscheduled for next June 30 and July 7, in the first and second round, respectively.

“It’s not enough to say that we have to go vote. T“We have to explain how we got to this point and the seriousness of the situation.”added the footballer, who feels the “responsibility” of sending this “type of message” and who believes that in the French team “everyone shares the same opinion” as him regarding the political situation in the country. Likewise, Marcus Thuram He also spoke about racism in Italy, where he plays for Inter Milan. “In Italy it is a problem, but I think it’s global. We saw it with Maignan [portero del Milan] in the stadiums,” he noted.

However, the French Football Federation (FFF) wanted make clear their political “neutrality” in the midst of these statements. In a statement published on the night of Saturday to Sunday, the FFF points out that since the early elections were called in France, practically all of the national team’s players have been questioned on this issue.

“Each of them has been able to express themselves freely, according to their own convictions and their own sensitivity,” says the Federation, which insists on defend freedom of expression as a principle and even calls for voting in the name of “democratic demand.”

But in parallel, he asks that everyone understands and respects “its neutrality as an institution, as well as that of the national team for which it has responsibility.” For this reason, he emphasizes that we must “avoid any political pressure and use of the French team.”