The French and Swiss National Teams - Indirectly Tackling Racism through Football

After watching the incredible France Vs Switzerland match, I decided to write a follow up blog to Who should I support in the World Cup? The original article can be found here.

Even though France were overwhelmingly the better team in the match, both national sides are significant for the same reason. Both countries have seen the rise of anti-immigration Far Right parties and policies in their country.  In last month’s European Union parliamentary election France’s Front National made sweeping gains.  The Front National’s campaign involved a staunch anti-immigration message and often highly xenophobic world views. Many commentators have also made reference to the Front National’s history of Nazi collaboration. 

Though not a member of the EU, Switzerland has recently been seen as a key testing ground and barometer for right-wing political gains, particularly in legislation aimed at Muslims and immigrants. Examples of this include the passage of laws banning minarets on mosques in 2009 and face veils in 2013. More recently, despite one in four citizens of Switzerland being from an immigrant background, a referendum was passed  demanding a quota for immigration be set, dramatically limiting the amount of new Swiss citizens. 

Many fellow travellers who hold left wing political views firmly believe that sport lies within the capitalist superstructure as a ‘bread and circus’ to distract the masses. I on the other hand feel that sport can play a central role in transforming society in a progressive direction. In the Swiss team they have five Switz-Albanian players, Granit Xhaka, Blerim Džemaili, Valon Behrami, Admir Mehmedi and in my opinion their best player Xherdan Shaqiri. Despite their defeat to France this team has led the national team to be rated in the top ten teams in the world despite Switzerland’s relatively small population and lack of elite competition like the Premier League in England. 

The French team are similarly peppered with first, second and third generation immigrants including France’s star stiker Karim Benzema whose grandfather was from Algeria and one of the most exciting prospects, Paul Pogba, is of Guinean decent. Both these players and the many other children of immigrants in the French team has helped propel the team to some of the most exciting football of the tournament. It is my belief that the success of these national teams can show case the benefits of multi–culturalism, which has become increasingly under attack over the last few years, as well as exposing the lies in the ideology of the far right not just in Switzerland and France but around the world. I believe both of these teams are worthy of my support.