Valentin Guéry: “Sports Help France’s Far Right Look Respectable”

Vertige Media: What role have sports played in the history of the National Rally?

Valentin Guéry : We need to distinguish between several periods. Jean-Marie Le Pen had ties to the sports world that aren’t widely known. As a student, he played rugby at Paris Université Club and served as vice president of the Pierre de Coubertin Committee. He championed amateur sports and developed ideas about the body and the balance between physical and intellectual pursuits, drawing on ancient Greece. For him, sports were both a subject of serious thought and a world he knew firsthand.

He later tried to develop a coherent approach to sports within the National Front, but those efforts rarely lasted. There was no institutional continuity, no way to pass the work along. Each new committee essentially started from scratch. The FN could talk about sports without ever developing a lasting set of policies or principles.

Vertige Media : What changed under Marine Le Pen ?

Valentin Guéry : The focus shifted toward media exposure. Éric Domard, a former sports journalist who became a party adviser, began producing briefings designed to respond to specific news events: a controversy over the Muslim headscarf, an incident of violence, a comment by an athlete, or something involving France’s national soccer team. These weren't sports policy proposals in the traditional sense. They were a way to connect sports to the party’s other political priorities, including immigration, national identity, and secularism.

That’s the paradox: sports come up frequently in statements from both the FN and the RN, but they’re almost entirely absent from detailed policy proposals. Advisers told me they were preparing policy documents outlining the party’s positions. I never saw those ideas turn into an actual platform. That gap is striking with the RN.

The National Front, and later the National Rally, illustrate this contradiction particularly well. They turn players’ nationalities, immigration, and national identity into political issues while refusing to acknowledge that they’re politicizing sports.

Valentin Guéry, associate professor at the University of Paris Nanterre

Vertige Media : Why does the RN insist that sports should remain apolitical?

Valentin Guéry : Because sports are presented as something that brings people together, something that should be protected from political divisions. That belief runs deep in both sports and politics. Even politicians who use sports most aggressively for political purposes can insist that sports must never be politicized.

The National Front, and later the National Rally, illustrate this contradiction particularly well. They turn players’ nationalities, immigration, and national identity into political issues while refusing to acknowledge that they’re politicizing sports. But you see the same logic elsewhere. Emmanuel Macron called for the World Cup in Qatar not to be politicized. Other elected officials oppose certain forms of political expression in sports while supporting bans on Muslim headscarves.

There’s an electoral calculation, too. Nobody wants to alienate fans caught up in a shared moment of excitement. A winning team, a major sporting event, or a popular champion can bring together people who agree on almost nothing politically. Taking too strong a position risks driving some of those people away.

That helps explain the relative consensus around promoting sports for health and the 2024 Paris Olympics. But this belief that sports are apolitical also limits debate about what sports policy should actually look like.

Vertige Media : What changed with the controversy surrounding France’s national soccer team in 1996?

Valentin Guéry : That episode matters because it brings several developments together. In publications aligned with the FN, particularly National Hebdo and Minute, there were growing numbers of articles about people they called “French only on paper,” player quotas, immigration, and the nationality of athletes. The party wanted to lead those debates.

In 1996, while France was competing in the European Championship, Jean-Marie Le Pen was asked about the national team during a visit to the Gard region. He described Les Bleus, the French national team, as “artificial” and called some players “French only on paper,” even though most of the players he was referring to had been born in France.

His remarks prompted the players to meet and discuss what he had said. Jean-Marie Le Pen forced the national team out of its supposedly apolitical position and made the soccer field another place where questions of national identity, immigration, and citizenship were being fought over.

The party’s own press recognized that an off-the-cuff interview could bring enormous attention to arguments it had been developing for years. Soccer became a way to set the political agenda and force others to take a position.

When France won the World Cup in 1998, Jean-Marie Le Pen also tried to capitalize on the wave of national pride. The FN had to find a way to exploit controversies over identity without alienating people who loved the French team.

Vertige Media : Which sports fit Jean-Marie Le Pen’s vision of France?

Valentin Guéry : In publications associated with that political movement, rugby was often celebrated for its traditions and the values people associated with it. The Tour de France was presented as part of the country’s cultural heritage, a sporting event rooted in French history and geography. These sports offered ways to promote a particular vision of France.

But it would be a mistake to draw a neat line between a party that loves rugby and hates soccer. Soccer attracts an audience that nothing else can match. The party can therefore root for Cinderella teams, unlikely underdogs like Calais, or criticize the commercialization of the sport.

It all depends on the story a particular club or player allows the party to tell. The common thread is the distinction between “good French people” and those who are constantly defined by their origins. It’s less about preferring one sport over another than about deciding which figures are supposed to represent the nation.

A shower stops working on a Sunday? City workers are sent to fix it. That kind of responsiveness helped the officials gain acceptance, even among people who didn't support the party. Hosting competitions allowed the city government to demonstrate that it was getting things done and to reach neighboring communities. Sports also brought elected officials into contact with parents who weren’t particularly politically engaged, often through something as simple as providing a service. In that way, sports helped expand the RN’s local influence.

Valentin Guéry, associate professor at the University of Paris Nanterre

Vertige Media : How has the election of RN politicians to local government, particularly after the 2020 municipal elections, affected local sports clubs?

Valentin Guéry : It depends on how established the elected officials are locally and the relationships they have built. My comparison of Mantes-la-Ville, in the Yvelines department, and Hénin-Beaumont, in Pas-de-Calais, shows two very different strategies.

In Mantes-la-Ville, the mayor came to office with few local allies, and his party affiliation was his main political asset. He therefore turned certain issues into political battles, including a proposed mosque. The local soccer club suffered major funding cuts, while its ties to people from immigrant backgrounds came under scrutiny.

In Hénin-Beaumont, by contrast, the municipal government sought to broaden its support through community organizations. Local sports organizations were initially hostile to the FN. Officials therefore began building personal relationships with club leaders and responding quickly to their requests.

A shower stops working on a Sunday? City workers are sent to fix it. That kind of responsiveness helped the officials gain acceptance, even among people who didn't support the party. Hosting competitions allowed the city government to demonstrate that it was getting things done and to reach neighboring communities.

Sports also brought elected officials into contact with parents who weren’t particularly politically engaged, often through something as simple as providing a service. In that way, sports helped expand the RN’s local influence. So an RN-run city won’t necessarily cut funding to a club with players from immigrant backgrounds. You have to look at the local relationships, not just the grants.

The sports world’s silence during the 2024 parliamentary elections, when the RN was polling very strongly, already offered a glimpse of that. Economic interests also help explain this caution. Agents, communications professionals, and sponsors want to avoid positions that could divide audiences or cost them business partners.

Valentin Guéry, associate professor at the University of Paris Nanterre

Vertige Media : Is this strategy unique to the RN?

Valentin Guéry : No. In Hénin-Beaumont, officials borrowed some elements of the old municipal socialist playbook: personal relationships, practical services, and a strong presence in community organizations. What makes this distinctive is how those practices fit into the strategy of a party trying to improve its image and expand its electoral base.

Jean-Marie Le Pen largely imagined gaining power from the top down. Officials in Hénin-Beaumont took the opposite approach, establishing themselves in one city before expanding their influence. Sports are an extension of that grassroots work.

This helps make the party appear respectable without making its ideology disappear. I’ve called it “politicization by eclipse”: a seemingly apolitical approach to governing in which certain ideological positions periodically come back into view.

The goal is also to keep independent community organizations from becoming potential centers of opposition. Sports provide relationships and visibility that allow the RN to appear like any other local political party while continuing to advance parts of its ideological agenda.

Vertige Media : How can local clubs and associations push back?

Valentin Guéry : In Mantes-la-Ville, the soccer club rallied its supporters, organized a petition, and brought media attention to its situation. Its president later ran for office and became mayor.

Sports were therefore central to the municipal opposition. A club can serve as a place to organize, but it can also provide a political base for people challenging the local government.

Other organizations seek funding from groups of neighboring municipalities or from departmental governments, as happened in Orange, in the Vaucluse department. Those authorities can distinguish themselves from a far-right municipal government that is withdrawing its support.

Community organization leaders face a dilemma. Staying means working with elected officials, sometimes shaking their hands and being photographed alongside them. Leaving risks opening the door to organizations with closer ties to city hall. 

Vertige Media : Is the RN currently developing a national sports policy?

Valentin Guéry : At the national level, what we see are primarily isolated interventions focused on religious identity, Islam, and the Muslim headscarf.

A good example is the French National Assembly’s fast-track fact-finding report on sectarianism and Islamism in sports, published on March 5, 2025, and written by Julien Odoul and Caroline Yadan. It presents sports as a sector targeted by Islamism, citing soccer, combat sports, and basketball in particular.

That doesn't mean the problems described in the report don't exist. But sports are treated primarily as a battleground over sectarianism, the headscarf, and Islamism, rather than as a policy area in their own right. There’s little discussion of amateur sports, women’s sports, or facilities.

Since the 2024 parliamentary elections, I haven’t seen any change in the party’s policy platform. Its interventions still revolve around identity, and its support for athletes is more about public relations than a coherent policy.

There may be conversations with sports federations, but I haven’t seen any document explaining what the RN would actually do for sports if it came to power.

Vertige Media : How would sports federations react if the RN came to power?

Valentin Guéry : I think it would create divisions within them. Some would oppose the party, while others would invoke the neutrality of sports to justify accommodating the new government.

The sports world’s silence during the 2024 parliamentary elections, when the RN was polling very strongly, already offered a glimpse of that.

Economic interests also help explain this caution. Agents, communications professionals, and sponsors want to avoid positions that could divide audiences or cost them business partners. Federations face many of the same pressures around ticket sales and public image.

Historically, many federation presidents have been close to the political right. And with the boundaries between different parts of the right becoming increasingly blurred, there's no guarantee they would form a united front against the RN.

The question would be who hides behind the idea that sports should remain apolitical, and who argues that neutrality cannot be used to normalize the far right.

However, I'm seeing the emergence of more openly activist clubs, including LGBT and antifascist clubs. My own observations are heavily focused on Paris, but these clubs can provide spaces for resisting the normalization of the RN.

Valentin Guéry, associate professor at the University of Paris Nanterre

Vertige Media : Yet some high-profile athletes have spoken out against the RN…

Valentin Guéry : Yes, but their visibility shouldn't obscure the broader trend. I compared public statements opposing the FN and later the RN between 2002 and 2022. The number of signatories fell from several hundred to around 50. A handful of famous voices can therefore create the impression of a much broader movement.

Professional athletes are surrounded by agents and other intermediaries who may discourage them from taking a public stand. A divisive statement can cost an athlete fans, sales, or sponsors. Speaking out is sometimes easier toward the end of a career, when there is less money at stake.

The language they use matters, too. Talking about “the extremes” rather than specifically naming the far right can reproduce the framing used by political communications teams or the media.

When it comes to opposing the RN, having prominent athletes speak out is important. But that doesn't necessarily mean the sports world as a whole is united in keeping the far right out of the mainstream.

Vertige Media : Is a coordinated response taking shape across the sports world?

Valentin Guéry : Some organizations are taking a stand. The FSGT, a sports federation with historic ties to the Communist Party, has adopted a particularly assertive approach. But I’ve also met officials who felt completely at a loss.

Before the 2020 municipal elections, one federation contacted me because its leaders were worried that presidents of local sports associations might join the electoral slate of Hénin-Beaumont’s RN mayor.

That shows why the challenge isn't just to denounce the RN’s ideas. It's also to understand the relationships the party has built inside sports clubs. Most federations don't take a public position. However, I'm seeing the emergence of more openly activist clubs, including LGBT and antifascist clubs.

My own observations are heavily focused on Paris, but these clubs can provide spaces for resisting the normalization of the RN.

Vertige Media : How much of a difference can they make?

Valentin Guéry : For a long time, parts of the activist left focused their efforts on culture and music. Today, some are bringing that activism into sports, whether by participating themselves or by showing up in the stands.

At Red Star, people come to Bauer Stadium to spend time with others from activist circles, even if they aren't especially passionate about soccer. At FC Ménilmontant, people take part in an activity alongside others who share their values. These spaces can still be socially homogeneous. There’s also a degree of gentrification at Bauer, Red Star’s home stadium in Seine-Saint-Denis, just outside Paris.Even so, these clubs offer an alternative. People come partly because they know they won't have to hear racist or homophobic chants. In that sense, sports become a place of resistance.