Benoit Assou-Ekotto chose not to play for France because he claims that the country blames ‘black players and Muslims’ when the team is not performing well.

The Tottenham Hotspur full-back was born near Calais, but opted to represent Cameroon at international level, as he qualified to do so through his father.

Assou-Ekotto, who spent last season on loan at Queens Park Rangers, has revealed the reasoning behind this decision to be his refusal to play for a nation that he perceives to have a racist agenda.

He said: “When the national team get a bad result, they start to say there is a little bit too many black people, Muslim people and this kind of stuff.

“I don’t like it. There is no point for me to play for this kind of country.”

The 30-year-old, who has been capped 23 times by Cameroon since debuting in 2009, is expected to start when the Africans face Croatia in their second World Cup Group A game on Wednesday.