France Euro 2016: Eric Cantona denies labelling Didier Deschamps a racist after comments on North African players

Cantona hit out at Deschamps for failing to pick a player with North Arican origin in his original squad for Euro 2016

Eric Cantona has denied calling Didier Deschamps a racist (Getty)

The footballer turned actor Eric Cantona has denied labelling the manager of the France football team a racist because he failed to pick any players of North African origin in his original squad for Euro 2016.

Mr Cantona’s remarks last week have provoked an incendiary row in France as the country prepares to host the European international football tournament from a week tomorrow.

Mr Cantona, 50, the former France and Manchester United striker, stood by his original suggestion in an interview with The Guardian last week that the exclusion of two brilliant players of North African origin was influenced by race and politics.

However, he told the French newspaper Libération that he had never – as suggested by others – accused the France manager Didier Deschamps of racism.

The row follows the decision to leave out of the 23-man France squad the star Real Madrid striker, Karim Benzema, who has been formally accused of helping friends to blackmail a France team-mate over a sex tape. The France squad – which contains 13 players of no-European origin – also left out the brilliant but unpredictable Nice forward Hatem Ben Arfa.

Mr Cantona’s denial yesterday is difficult to square with the tone, if not the precise words, of his original interview.

Mr Cantona then said: “Deschamps, he has a really French name. Maybe he is the only one in France to have a truly French name. Nobody in his family mixed with anybody, you know. Like the Mormons in America.

“So I’m not surprised he used the (legal) situation of Benzema not to take him…And Ben Arfa is maybe the best player in France today. But they have some origins. I am allowed to think about that.”

On Wednesday, Benzema added fuel to the flames ignited by Mr Cantona by telling a Spanish newspaper that Mr Deschamps had “given in to pressure from the racist part of France”. Earlier, the popular French actor and comedian Jamel Debbouze also suggested that the squad selection had discriminated against players with North African backgrounds.

French politicians of both left and right have dismissed the claims as manifestly unjustified. The centre right former environment minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet said: “This is all the more terrible because it damages the image of France and of the France team. You only have to look at the team to know that the manager and the federation cannot be suspected of racism.”


 Benzema accused Deschamps of 'giving in to racist pressure' 
 (Getty)

A former professional football coach in France told the Independent earlier this week: “This is a very sensitive area. If there were no North African players in the original squad, it wasn’t the fault of Deschamps. Benzema would have been an automatic pick if it wasn’t for his legal problems.

“And there are several French-born players of North African origin who would have been picked if they had not opted to play for other countries. Riyad Mahrez (of Leicester City) was elected player of the year in England. He was born in Sarcelles (in the north Paris suburbs). Why is he not at Euro 2016? Because he has chosen to play for Algeria.”