Frank Leboeuf, a French sports commentator, and former international footballer stirred controversy after he commented on Morocco vs Belgium game on the American sports channel ESPN FC.
The French national expressed his joy for the Moroccan team in a way many deemed clumsy, condescending, and ignorant by social media users.
“I am so happy for Morocco. I think it may be difficult for people watching to put Morocco on a map. It’s a small country, a kind of poor country, a lot of people are suffering,” said Leboeuf enthusiastically, in English, to the other commentators.
“Small country”, “poor country”, people who “suffer”, Leboeuf begins a description of Morocco which did not please many, adding that most Moroccan players come from France or have double nationality.
In fact, Romain Saiss and Sofiane Boufal are the only two players with Moroccan-French nationality in the squad (besides Amine Harit who was injured before the World Cup and replaced soon after).
He later went on to add: “They fight for their country because it is a fantastic country with a rich culture.”
“You can’t imagine the reaction there. Beating Belgium, second in the FIFA rankings, is absolutely crazy. I get chills just thinking about it because I know what it means to my friends in Morocco. It is something they will remember forever.”
Not all viewers and internet users deemed the comments to be improper, but others note a certain arrogance, words steeped to be inappropriate or even ignorant.
Faced with the enormous backlash from Moroccans, the former French international went on later to apologize to Moroccan users in a video he shared on Twitter.
He described his comments as inappropriate, trying to express his reasoning behind his statements.
He said that the lack of familiarity of American audiences was behind what he said, but more importantly, that his intention was to highlight the exploit that the Moroccan National Team achieved on Sunday against Belgium.
Morocco won 2-0 against Belgium in a shock world cup game that many Moroccan fans won’t forget any time soon.
? | Franck Leboeuf présente ses excuses après ses propos sur le Maroc : pic.twitter.com/rNKguTBv96
— DM SPORT (@dmsportma) November 30, 2022
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