Euro 2024: Mbappe, France players urge public to vote against far right
At Euro 2024, France's football players including Kylian Mbappe and Marcus Thuram are taking a stand against the far-right of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella's Rassemblement National after President Macron called a snap election.
The far right may be on the verge of power, but it will first have to contend with an opponent that might be more formidable than France’s beleaguered mainstream politicians: the national soccer team.
Stars of the country’s iconic Les Bleus have sought to bolster the defenses of the Fifth Republic, speaking out to urge the public to vote in a crucial snap election campaign that is taking place alongside the men’s European Championship this summer.
Winner of the 2018 Word Cup, France is considered one of the top contenders to win the tournament that kicked off in Germany last week, but its players have their eyes on what’s happening off the field too, with tensions high at home ahead of a parliamentary vote that could usher in unprecedented political change.
“The extremes are at the gates of power,” captain and star forward Kylian Mbappe said in a news conference on the eve of France’s opening game against Austria on Monday.
Mbappe, 25, appealed to the younger generation of voters, saying the county was at a “crucial” moment.
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