France international Lucas Digne has been subjected to a wave of racist abuse on social media following his side’s 2-0 World Cup semi-final defeat to Spain, with users mocking the defender’s skin colour and calling for him to be excluded from the national team.
Digne, who endured a difficult evening against Spain’s teenage winger Lamine Yamal and conceded the penalty that opened the scoring, became the main target of online criticism after the match.
Among the messages circulating on X and other platforms were posts stating, “Dirty fdp (son of a b*tch) you’re the only white person on your team and we’re losing because of you”, “Dirty white shit”, “Lucas Digne, I don’t want a white person in the French team anymore”, “Keep this white man away from my club” or “We put a white man to please the French”.
The racist abuse directed at Digne has reignited debate over whether racism against white players receives the same level of public attention and condemnation as abuse targeting ethnic minorities.
Neither FIFA nor the French Football Federation had publicly commented on the insults directed at Digne at the time of writing.
National Rally MP Julien Odoul noted on X there was a “radio silence” in the face of these messages.
“If the same vile comments had targeted Bradley Barcola or Ousmane Dembélé, the entire antiracist left would have rushed to the barricades with screams and howls. But since it’s Lucas Digne, it’s radio silence because anti-white racism doesn’t interest them. Shameful.”
Ironically, Digne himself is married to the granddaughter of Algerian immigrants who takes pride in her roots and calls multicultural diversity a strength while also militating against “racist hatred”.
In the past, Lucas Digne has called for better rules on Ramadan at football games.
The incident comes just days after France’s multi-ethnic national team became the subject of a separate international controversy.
Former Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy sparked outrage after writing that France had “no French players”, remarks condemned by both the Spanish and French governments as racist and xenophobic.
Next to the composition of the national team, France’s large immigrant population is also reflected in the composition of several other national teams.
A significant number of players representing African and Caribbean countries were born and developed in France before opting to play for their family’s country of origin.
« On a mis un blanc pour faire plaisir aux francais », « Éloignez ce blanc… » : le footballeur français Lucas Digne visé par des propos anti-blanc après avoir concédé un penalty lors de France-Espagne #FRAESP #world pic.twitter.com/EFfK61jbSb
— Fdesouche.com est une revue de presse (@F_Desouche) July 14, 2026
