Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: France, World News
Hannah Smith
A far-right French politician has been given a red card after turning up at a sports centre owned by international legend Zinedine Zidane.
Eric Zemmour - the controversial anti-immigration figure running in France's presidential election - had arrived at the Z5 club owned by Zidane to have a 5-a-side kickabout while out on the campaign trail, only to find himself swiftly informed he was not welcome by Zidane's brother, Noureddine, who manages the Aix-en-Provence facility.
According to reporters following Zemmour, as soon as Noureddine was made aware of Zemmour's presence he demanded they leave the pitch, saying 'get them out of here. All of them.'
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It's understood that Noureddine, whose family emigrated to France from Algeria in the 1950s, did not want his brother's club to be associated with Zemmour's politics.
"I don’t know what’s happening, we’re playing well it’s great. We’ve rented the stadium," Zemmour told journalists after being told to leave, responding to Noureddine's explanation by saying: "we don’t have the right to play here? Well, that says everything."
Club staff were filmed promising to reimburse Zemmour's team for the €160 euros they had paid to hire the pitch.
A Ballon D'Or winner and three time FIFA Footballer of the Year, Zidane remains one of the most prominent sports figures in France, where he is widely regarded as one of his country's greatest-ever footballers.
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The decision by Zemmour to visit a facility owned by Zidane - whose family history is well known - has been labelled by some in the media as a publicity stunt, with Le Parisien asking 'by going to a sporting complex run by the brother of Zinedine Zidane was Eric Zemmour looking to make a buzz?'
The awkward interaction was not even the worst reception Zemmour received while campaigning over the weekend. Earlier in the day, during a visit to a flea market in Marseille, the candidate was booed for suggesting the market traders were 'mostly illegal' and 'sent back home,' and was denied by local authorities permission to hold a press conference outside the city's iconic Notre-Dame de la Garde basilica.
If elected, Zemmour has pledged to establish a 'Ministry for Remigration,' and to deport more than one million 'foreigners' from the country.
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Zemmour is currently polling in fourth place behind current president Emmanuel Macron, fellow far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and left-wing populist Jean-Luc Melenchon.
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