Africa: France's Second World Cup Triumph a Win for African Immigrants Everywhere

opinion

France's World Cup 2018 winning team featured no less than 15 players with African roots.

Moscow, Russia - Luzhniki Stadium: With a 4-2 win on Sunday, July 15th, France stepped over Croatia onto the podium for their 2nd ever World Cup title. The historical win marks their first major tournament win since 2000 when they won the European Championship, just two years after their legendary and inaugural World Cup win in 1998. And just like in '98, France's current batch of champions features a generous amount of immigrants. That first wave of the Golden Age graced the world with multinational French talents such as Marcel Desailly, Patrick Viera, and even Zinedine Zidane. For France, '98 marked an unveiling of sorts of a talent pool so rich that for the tournament, then coach Aime Jacquet only selected three Parisians in his World Cup roster. The previous '84 Euro-winning team had just one. The youth of Africa had created a new formula for the French.

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