What France and Belgium’s World Cup success says about European immigration

Afshin Molavi, co-director of the emerge85 Lab and a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, in the Washington Post  offers insights on the benefits of immigrants to World Cup Soccer teams.

While Kylian Mbappé is an unusual talent, his background as the son of first-generation immigrants to France makes him a typical French national team player. Indeed, 17 players on France’s 23-man roster at this year’s Cup are the sons of first-generation immigrants. Other successful European squads are also stacked with talent from sons of immigrants or recent migrants themselves, notably Switzerland and Belgium.  Belgium and France will be playing in the semi-finals.

KJ