Colonialism. Multiculturalism. Pluralism. Immigration. Welcome to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
All of these social constructs are transparently prevalent on the North American soccer pitches of the United States, Mexico, and Canada, where the 23rd staging of the tournament is being held. One of the favorites to win the championship on Saturday, July 19, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, home of the National Football League’s New York Jets and New York Giants, is France.
Africans first arrived in the Western European country in the 1500s. Not as slaves but as independent sailors and members of royal courts among other statuses. In succeeding centuries, the transatlantic slave trade — the largest forced migration in recorded history — and voluntary migration to France have created the largest Black population in Europe, with an estimated three to five million people of African descent living in the country of 69 million. France disallows census data collection based on race, ethnicity, and religion.
The percentage of players of African ancestry comprising France’s dynamic World Cup soccer team is vastly higher. Of France’s 26-man roster, 21 are of African descent, led by the remarkable Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembele. Both were born and raised in France. Mbappé was once hailed as the sport’s next great star after a sensational 2022 World Cup performance in which France lost to the great Lionel Messi, whom many soccer aficionados consider the best ever, and Argentina in the finals.
While remaining a top player since then, he came into this World Cup just a notch below Dembele in the eyes of some. It was Dembele who carried the banner as the planet’s best entering the tournament. But after scoring four goals in two games — two apiece versus Senegal and Iraq in undefeated France’s two wins (they face Norway tomorrow) — Mbappé has made a case for reclaiming the throne. But Messi, at 38, has something to say about that as his five goals in two games pace the field.
France’s large contingent of Black players representing European countries is not an exception. There are a record 10 African nations playing in this year’s World Cup and two Caribbean countries — Haiti and Curaçao. Black players are impacting virtually all of the squads regardless of geographical region. England has 15 players of African descent or mixed heritage. Germany and Belgium have nine Black players each. All of the 48 World Cup squads have at least one player who is Black or of mixed-race, with the exception of Argentina.
With it comes a tournament that tells the history of human expansion out of Africa. Countries’ conquest of others for land and resources over millennia and centuries. The long and ongoing saga of hegemony, adaptation, assimilation, and subordination.
As an aside, one of the ironies of all the matches taking place in this country is that they are being held in 11 venues that are the home stadiums of NFL teams. In virtually every other country in the world, the sport is referred to as football, not soccer. So, as the most popular sport in the world with an estimated fan base of four billion followers, soccer, or global football, dwarfs the American game of the same name.
Soccer embodies tribalism and national identity. Social order and hierarchy. It is an amalgam of cultures once separated by millions of miles of oceans. As Franklin Foer elucidated in his seminal 2004 book, “How Soccer Explains the World,” it is an economic driver in many nations, ripe with political corruption at the highest levels of government.
The first Black player who captured the attention of the masses was the late Brazilian, Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé, who remains for many the most consequential player in the annals of the sport. He is credited with popularizing the phrase “Jogo Bonito,” translation: “The beautiful game.”
Pele exported the beautiful game to the United States, to the New York City area, when he joined the New York Cosmos in 1975 and stayed until 1977. Pele passed away in December 2022. The game he mastered like few others is on grand display here this summer.
Yes, soccer explains the world as a metaphor for life.
