France glory a win for diversity, says Obama

Former US president Barack Obama on Tuesday singled out the African heritage of many players in France's World Cup-winning football team in a speech paying tribute to Nelson Mandela.

Speaking in Johannesburg to mark 100 years since Mandela's birth, Obama said that embracing diversity "delivers practical benefits since it ensures that a society can draw upon the energy and skills of all... people."

"And if you doubt that, just ask the French football team that just won the World Cup -- because not all these folks look like Gauls to me, they are French, they are French," he stressed with a smile.

France beat Croatia 4-2 in Sunday's final in Moscow, with a team featuring many players of African heritage.

Of the 23 players in the French squad, nearly two-thirds are of Arab or African descent. Two of France's goalscorers against Croatia have African roots: Paul Pogba's parents are from Guinea while Kylian Mbappe's parents are Cameroonian and Algerian.

Of the players who started in the final, Samuel Umtiti was born in Cameroon, Blaise Matuidi's parents are Angolan and Congolese, N'Golo Kante's parents are Malian while Raphael Varane's father is from the Caribbean island of Martinique.

However, suggestions such as those made by Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, who said "It was Africa who won", have come under heavy fire.

France left-back Benjamin Mendy hit back at a tweet that had the names of all the French players with flags of different African countries next to them, by writing "fixed" and putting the France flag next to each name.

US-based French basketball player Evan Fournier also fired off on Twitter.

"Stop it with this "Africa won the world cup for France" nonsense. Is it Africa winning when the USA win Gold medals in the Olympics? he wrote.