Why did none of the French players sing their national anthem at the World Cup?
I wondered that at the time, some people here are saying they didnt sing because “they weren’t all french” – thats not entirely fair – most of them were born in France and even if their parents weren’t that shouldn’t stop them for eg. Zidane was (parents Algerian and didn’t sing), Barthez was (spanish descent and didn’t sing) but Thierry Henry who was also born in France like ZZ and Barthez DID sing (his parents from Antilles) and Lillian Thuram was born in France too and DID sing (african parents). Other “French” players like Ribery are seen as pure french on the basis that they are white but he didn’t sing either! So I guess its down to individual choice, some players regardless to their nationality and ancestory choose not to sing the national anthem because they like to mentally focus on the match ahead and/or have their own personal reasons. Gary Neville & Paul Scholes are and were England internationals for years and NEVER sang the national anthem and not much fuss was made of it
