Footballers talking politics off the field: Mbappe says extremes knocking 'on door of power'

Joining me now is Clovis Casale on how the world's of French football and politics are now merging in view of those comments made by Kilian Mbappe. He is indeed the biggest name in French football and warning of the dangers, as we saw there, of the far right getting into power. A significant move. Exactly. First Marcus Churham from Inter Milan, now Kilian Mbappe, the big name in sports, in football, the French superstar at former PSG, now Real Madrid, 118 million followers on Instagram alone calling to prevent by all means the far right from getting into office here in France. France playing it's first game of the EUR tonight against Austria. And that's why he was, in this press conference, asked about these snap elections. And he said the French people really need to get together to try to prevent by all means what he sees as extremism gets into a power. Interesting to see that Kilan and Bapi did not rule out the possibility of a joint collective action. In other words, the French national team doing something big. Presumably, it won't be an open latter. It could be something maybe on the pitch, maybe during a training session to show that Lib Leu want the French people to go and vote and not vote for far right parties. Akido Mbappe during the press conference also saying that when he was young he would tend not to vote because he just thought it's just one ballot, it won't make a difference, but it does and that's what his message was really about. Let's take a listen to Akilian Ambappe explaining why French youths need to vote. I'd like to address all the French people, especially the younger generation. We are a generation that can make a difference. Today it's clear that the extremes are on the doorstep of power. We have the opportunity to choose the future of our country and that's why I'm calling on all young people to go out and vote. To really realise the importance of the situation, we need to identify with values of diversity, tolerance and respect. So the big question here, Clovis, is how damaging is a statement like that for the far right? Well, first I've been covering the National Rally and it was before the National Front. Ever since Marine Le Ben took over from her father over a decade ago, what has she been trying to do? She's been trying to come across as a mainstream party. She's been trying to change the image of the National Front, now National Rally, trying to make it acceptable to the eyes of everyone. And when it's politicians calling her party far right, she doesn't really care. She can just say, look, it's political bickering, it's our opponents talking. But when it's big names from society, even though even more so from the sports world, it does make a difference. People do listen to them. People who don't generally don't care about politics might care about sports and care about big names telling them also their points of views. So it could have an influence. Interestingly, it's interesting to see that for the time being, neither Bardila nor Mahine Le Pen have provided an answer and official response to Akilian and Bapi's comments. Other party members have, of course, they're furious. Let's take a listen to Sebastian Cheniu, who's one of the close allies of Marine Le Pen. Of course, from the National Rally, when you have the luck, the honour to wear the France jersey, you should show restraint. A lot of our party members are supporters of the French team. It's the least we can say. They like him, Bape. I like him too as a player, but I don't need him to give me lessons in politics. The French are adults, they showed. They make astute political decisions. They choose. They don't need certain people like I mentioned earlier of the system where people are out of touch of their everyday realities to come and tell them how to vote. And traditionally sports athletes, they don't normally make any comments or political comments as such and certainly not in here in France, do they? Yes, it's a bit of a non written rule, but it's all changed with sportsmen and sportswomen taking a stance. Big names from the world of athletics, swimming, tennis all coming together. Not everyone of course, but at least a few 100 people have been signing petitions from the sports world to try to take a political stance here. And yes, indeed, usually a sports figures don't get mingled into politics because it's not their job, it's not what they do. And it's also an unwritten rule with FIFA, the UEFA, saying that don't talk politics on a football pitch because it's just not the point. There's no point of that. But it has happened in the US, for instance, remember Black Lives Matter, Remember all that that triggered? Remember all the opposition to Donald Trump when he was in office? LeBron James, the NBA superstar, saying that Donald Trump was unfit for the job, saying of his election in 2016. This is in the end, it's a very challenging obstacle that we will overcome. It's tricky to for sportsmen and sports women to talk about politics. When they do, it's because it's very serious indeed. And that's why Kilian M Bapi has done so yesterday. Thank you very much, Clovis Kasali.