While the easier route is to separate the dynamics of race from the sport, that seems impossible with the rise of nationalism in many countries in the West. An example of this is Italy, a country that is the entry point for thousands of African migrants, has a record of blatant racism displayed by many fans, players and coaches in many of its football teams.
But Italy may not be alone in this, especially after football player Mesut Özil’s statement on his departure from Germany’s national team cited racism and explored the sentiment that his "German-ness” was put in question depending on his performance.
Many discussions around this departure have been laser focused on Mesut Özil’s declining performance. Many discrediting the points he raised as irrelevant in the face of his career as football player having reached its peak.
But this discourse ironically solidifies a similar sentiment from another football player, Romelu Lukaku, who wrote a piece that elaborated on his experience as a black Belgian who read newspapers that called him the Belgian striker when things were going well, and the Belgian striker of Congolese descent when things weren’t.
In the West, there is the narrative of the good immigrant, deserving of citizenship, and the bad immigrant deserving of deportation. The black or brown athlete is considered a "good” immigrant by a host nation wanting sporting success, while "bad” immigrants are "job-stealers” or, worse, potential terrorists.
This is evident in France, whose team has won this year’s World Cup, has a record of bestowing French citizenship as a reward. Such was the case for Mamoudou Gassama, the Malian immigrant who saved a four-year old boy dangling from the balcony, whose citizenship was expedited because of his heroism.
It is a complex narrative that reconciles imperialism and colonisation. The majority of France’s team members have roots in Africa, but the French establishment has pushed back against the celebration of the dualities of their identities as both African, with ties to immigrant and diaspora communities, as well as being French-born or raised, insisting that they are purely "French”.
Identity in France like much of the West is a fraught conversation. French identity as a tool of supremacy asks immigrants to shred vestiges of their birth countries. Assimilation not integration. The assimilationist approach from France’s colonial past continues to drive French policy on immigration, relying on ideals of exceptionalism and civility.
A case study of this was Nicolas Anelka in France’s 2010 team who clashed with the head coach Domenech, and until the elimination of the team in the 2010 world cup, the team returned to media outcry and a Sports minister who called the team "immature gangsters”.
Contrast this to Kylian Mbappé in France’s 2018 team, who won the tournament’s Best Young Player award, and is greatly loved, has been described as humble and exemplary.
The ideal black or brown citizen. A nation which justifies xenophobia and exclusion – and therefore criminalizes the "bad immigrant” is one that thinks of people as disposable.