ABSTRACT
The picture went around the globe through one of the world’s most powerful media: television. November 19, 2013; France holds its breath. “The Blues” play their return match against Ukraine to qualify for the finals of the World Cup held in Brazil, the country where football is king. Beaten 2:0 by the Ukrainian team in the first leg, France had to make an astonishing achievement to be amongst the best nations in the FIFA World Cup. Finally, they managed the perfect game, with the score 3:0. The hero of that day was the central defender Mamadou Sakho, who scored two goals. The sensational game by the native of Barbès (a multicultural quarter of Paris), whose parents are from Tambacounda in Senegal, moved nearly 14 million viewers. Alongside his sporting results and performance, Sakho reveals another facet of the French population, which is the impact of people from former colonies, particularly from West Africa, on French society – including of course in sport in general and football in particular. From the 1930s to the present, the compositions of various French teams have been marked by the significant presence of the African diaspora, those born in the territories formerly administered by the French State or whose parents were from countries that have a special link with France.
