Eduardo Camavinga has alienated part of the far right and French nationalists because of his investment abroad.
Eduardo Camavinga finds himself, despite himself, at the center of a political and ideological controversy. The midfielder of Real Madrid and the French team is attacked on social networks by part of the far right and nationalist circles, after the announcement of investment projects in Angola, his country of birth. Before looking at what he is accused of, a little context is necessary.
Born in 2002 in Micondje, an Angolan semi-enclave located between the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Atlantic Ocean, in the midst of a period of armed conflict, Eduardo Camavinga left the country at the age of two with his family to settle in France. It was in France that he grew up, learned football and launched a prodigy’s trajectory, from Stade Rennais to Real Madrid, until becoming an executive of the French selection that he has represented since he was 16.
During the Christmas holidays, the 23-year-old traveled to Angola, accompanied by his parents, his agent and several relatives. Officially received by Secretary of State Paul Madeira, Camavinga spoke of his desire to invest sustainably, in particular through the creation of a football academy. Information revealed by Le Figaro, which provoked strong reactions.
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Among them, that of Jean Messiha, a polemicist close to Éric Zemmour’s Reconquest party and declared candidate for the 2026 legislative elections in Évreux. On the social network X, he published a virulent message: “I present to you Eduardo Camavinga, “French” football international. The archetype of immigration that the French no longer support. This guy was born in Angola. (…) After having made his career, his reputation and his fortune in France, he plans to open a football academy in Angola in order, he says, to “give back to my country what it gave me”. His country which brought him nothing at all since it was France which made him king from start to finish! Why such ingratitude? When will he give back to France what it gave him? »
Comments which sparked a wave of indignation and support for the player. Because Eduardo Camavinga has never denied France, nor minimized what it offered him. He has worn the blue jersey with pride since adolescence and has always been impeccable in his sporting and public commitment.
Investing in one’s native country, left in childhood under dramatic circumstances, does not mean denying one’s adopted country. At only 23 years old, Camavinga chooses on the contrary to put his notoriety and his means at the service of young children deprived of the opportunities which have been offered to him. A solidarity approach that many consider exemplary, and which questions, once again, the way in which athletes from immigrant backgrounds are viewed in France and the legitimacy of their commitments.
