Football, Nationalism, and Identity: Zinedine Zidane

Without immigrants, there are no Les Bleus – and some of the brightest stars in French football, including Karim Benzema, playing today for France, are products of Algeria’s fraught relationship with their former colonizers. For example, People’s Game featured guest Laurent Dubois writes on the politics of singing (or not singing) La Marseillaise for France’s Algerian stars.

Perhaps no one, however, is as emblematic of the complex politics of nationalism and identity at play in today’s games as one of France’s greatest football heroes, Zinedine Zidane. Born and raised in the Algerian immigrant banlieues of Marseille, Zidane battled poverty and racism as a child, and continued to endure attacks from France’s far-right National Front party (which recently gained power in France) during his career as France’s star striker.

As an immigrant whose identity spans both colonized and colonizing nations, Zidane often faces questions relating to his identity and national loyalties. Although he has famously refrained from explicit political speech, at the prospect of an Algeria-France quarterfinal, Zidane recently made clear who he’s rooting for: “I have two countries, one where I was born , and then the country of my heart: I will fully support them.”