France’s players have made themselves heard at Euro 2024 with calls to go out and vote in the parliamentary elections. The English team, not so much.
France and England are preparing to the quarterfinal match of Euro 2024. France will play Portugal on Friday, while the Three Lions will face Switzerland on Sunday.
Both teams play right in the middle of crucial parliamentary elections. Voting has already ended in the United Kingdom, where Labor has won a big victory, while the French They head to the polls for the second round of the legislative elections on Sunday, July 7.
But both teams have had radically different approaches to their respective political situationswith the French being much louder than the English.
Mbappé warns that France is in danger
The captain of the French team, Kylian Mbappéwarned this Thursday that Your country is in a “catastrophic” political situationwhile approaching the first far-right government since World War II.
In the first round of a hasty election, The National Group obtained strong supportaround 33% of the votes throughout the country, which leaves Marine Le Pen’s party at the gates of power.
“I think now, more than ever, you have to go (to vote)“said Mbappé in Hamburg before the match.
“Es an urgent situation. We cannot let our country fall into the hands of these people. It is pressing: we have seen the results, it’s catastrophic“.
Mbappé made a similar call before Euro 2024when he said that “the extremes They are knocking on the door of power“.
Defender Jules Koundé was another player to leave, saying he was “disappointed to see the direction our country is taking” in a comment on Monday.
President Emmanuel Macron called early elections after the defeat of his party in the elections to the European Parliament last month, betting that the extreme right would not repeat its success in a national election.
France players have been regularly asked because of the political situation in his country during the Euro 2024 press conferences.
The French winger Ousmane Dembélé stated that “the alarm has gone off”, and his teammate Marcus Thuram went further, stating that the French “they have to fight daily so that the National Group does not succeed”.
Also striker Olivier Giroud He called on people to go out and vote.
English players do not reveal their voting intentions
“Politics-free zone” was defender John Stones’ verdict on England’s training camp on Thursday, as the British They were heading to the polls for their general elections.
Stones showed up happy to talk about England’s quarter-final match against Switzerland, but admitted that he had no idea of his colleagues’ voting intentions.
“I couldn’t tell you anything about the other guys. I’m sure it will be something that will be talked about later tonight, but I couldn’t tell you.” who do they vote for. “They keep it in their chest,” he said.
England will face Switzerland on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. at Düsseldorf.
Diplomatic chaos between Türkiye and Germany
Although there are no elections underway in Türkiye, the selection is involved in a diplomatic controversy with the host country, Germany.
ADVERTISINGTürkiye faces the Netherlands at 9:00 p.m. in Saturday’s other quarterfinal match.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has canceled a trip to Azerbaijan to be in Berlin and support the players after the controversy sparked by a controversial political gesture made by a player in Tuesday’s match against Austria.
After scoring his second goal, the Turkish Merih Demiral made a sign with each hand, recognized as symbol of turkish nationalismsince it is associated with the ultranationalist organization Ulku Ocaklari, popularly known as the Gray Wolves.
UEFA opened an investigation into the “alleged inappropriate behavior” of the player.
The disciplinary measure occurred after the request for sanction of German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser who declared in X that “the symbols of the Turkish extreme right have no place” in German stadiums.
ADVERTISINGOn Wednesday, in a series of retaliations, Türkiye summoned the German ambassador, before Germany responded on Thursday. Demiral described his gesture as something related to his “Turkish identity, because I am very proud to be Turkish.”
The Gray Wolves group was founded as youth branch of the Turkish far-right party Nationalist Movementwhich currently maintains an alliance with Erdogan’s ruling party.
The group has been banned in Francewhile Austria has banned the use of the salute and Germany keeps its activities under scrutiny.
The nationalist gestures and displays of both players and fans They have been in the news several times at Euro 2024and UEFA has imposed fines of tens of thousands of euros on several countries, including Croatia, Albania and Serbia.
