Paris, November 8, 2007 - Football loving historians under the name "We are Football" will at the weekend organise a debate in Marseille, France, on the subject: "Maghreb footballers in France in the 20th century: Professional careers, complex identities".

"Many footballers from the first, second or third generations of Maghreb immigrants are associated with the history of French football and its exploits. Nevertheless, racism and discriminations are still recurrent in and around football," organisers of the forum told PANA in Paris.

Rachid Mekhloufi, a striker of French first division side, AS Saint Etienne, said they would use the platform to, among other things, slam racism in sports.

Many other ex-footballers, including Hassan Akesbi, Taoufik Beilgith, Alim Benmabrouk, Mustapha Dahleb, Kader Ferhaoui, Abdallah Liégeon, Chérif Oudjani and Ammar Rouaï, are also expected at the event.

Several roundtables have been planned to focus on themes. They include "Models and diversity of the Maghreb footballers in France", "The Algerian footballers in the independence war", "A long story, the France of the Maghreb footballers".