France football chief backs Real Madrid’s Mbappe after China apology
Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe should be allowed to move on after apology to China, says French football federation chief.
French Football Federation chief Philippe Diallo said Kylian Mbappe should be allowed to move on amid controversy over the France captain referring to former Chinese leader Mao Zedong as a dictator because the player has apologised and intended no offence.
Mbappe’s club Real Madrid and La Liga have also apologised following the remarks, while the league’s president Javier Tebas set up a crisis unit and met Chinese ambassador to Spain, Yao Jing, on Wednesday as Spanish football sought to contain the fallout.
The backlash highlights the risks for athletes and brands in the lucrative Chinese market, where satire about Mao, modern China’s founding leader who governed the country from 1949 until his death in 1976, remains a social taboo.
“It is a controversy which, ultimately, should not, I hope, last because Kylian has very well explained the context in which this intervention took place. He has apologised,” Diallo was quoted as saying by French newspaper Ouest-France on Thursday.