Former Juventus and Parma defender Lilian Thuram reveals racist comments from a coach in Italy.
The World Cup winner was one of the greatest right-backs in the world, and still holds the all-time record for France caps.
However, he also faced racism throughout his career, famously turning down a move to Lazio after ultras had to assure him they wouldn’t make monkey noises if he played for their team.
Former Juventus and Parma defender Lilian Thuram reveals racist comments from a coach in Italy.
The World Cup winner was one of the greatest right-backs in the world, and still holds the all-time record for France caps.
However, he also faced racism throughout his career, famously turning down a move to Lazio after ultras had to assure him they wouldn’t make monkey noises if he played for their team.
Today he gave an interview to L’Équipe about the 1998 World Cup win, with the team carrying the ‘black-blanc-beur [black-white-arab]’ slogan throughout the tournament.
“Obviously I wasn’t deluded enough to think it would represent some form of political recuperation,” Thuram said.
“At the same time though I thought it was good to have slogans, especially since this one was positive.
“It reminded people that France was multicoloured, that is population was diverse and its national team – whites, blacks, arabs – perfectly represented that mixture.
“In the end it was almost perfect, because we didn't take into account the French of Asian origin, who are often forgotten in the history of France. It was in any case an important moment, during a period when we needed a strong symbolism.
“If there was more media talk, more political stances, things would be better today.
“When will we finally recognise and legitimise that France is diverse in colours, religions, accents? To deny diversity is to deny life and to stigmatise it? That’s really stupid.
“It reminds me of an incident when I was playing in Italy. A coach came up to me and said: ‘it’s funny, you blacks are always together’.
“I looked at him and told him: ‘I’ll tell you what’s weird, some blacks are sitting together talking, and look over there, whites are doing the same thing. And you decide to say that. It wouldn’t occur to you to go over there and say “it’s funny, you whites are always together”’.
“He said nothing and left.”