Marcel Desailly

How cracks appeared in the joyous French unity of 1998

There had been dissenting voices from the far-right, yet France fell in love with Zidane, who was of Algerian Kabyle descent and players born, or with roots, in the Caribbean, Senegal, Ghana, New Caledonia, Portugal, Spain, Armenia and Argentina.
Laurent Blanc, who was national coach at the time, part of the defensive backbone of the 1998 squad, had, it was reported, signed off on a quotas plan proposed by others in the French Football Federation.

By AFP · 04 June 2018