France vs Senegal match sparks debate over national identity

As the France-Senegal match approached, a single comment by Ousmane Sonko ignited a debate many thought belonged to the fringes of identity politics. By declaring that ‘regardless of the winner, it is Africa that will have defeated Africa’, the President of Senegal’s National Assembly revived a long-standing controversy: one that reduces the Black players of the French team to their familial roots rather than their nationality. A rhetoric once championed by figures like Jean-Marie Le Pen and Éric Zemmour, it now finds unexpected resonance when echoed by one of Senegal’s most prominent political leaders.