World Soccer Cup: What France and Belgium’s World Cup success says about European immigration - by Afshin Molavi

While the World Cup has taken center stage of the sporting world this summer, the immigration debate has taken center stage in European politics. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government nearly collapsed over divisions among her coalition partners on immigration. In Britain, unease over large numbers of migrants helped fuel the vote to leave the European Union. And in France, the National Front’s Marine Le Pen put up a more formidable fight than her father during her 2017 loss to President Emmanuel Macron, capturing a third of the French electorate. She, too, famously lamented that “when I look at Les Bleus, I don’t recognize France or myself.”

Read more: What France and Belgium’s World Cup success says about European immigration - The Washington Post