The deputy president of Iran's Parliament Ali Motahari is critical of France’s progress at the ongoing World Cup in Russia claiming they only made it so far by recruiting "giants from Africa"

Les Blues have as many as 14 players with African roots in their squad including Kylian Mbappe, Ousmanne Dembele, Ngolo Kante and Samuel Umiti among several others.

They draw heritage from nine different African countries, namely Guinea, Cameroon, Senegal, DR Congo, Mali, Angola, Togo, Morocco and Algeria.

Ali Motahari posted on Instagram demanding Fifa to end inequality in football by requiring teams to consist only of "true" citizens of the country.

"At the World Cup we have teams who profit from players of other countries, with the justification that these players have the nationality of their team. This has undermined and created an unfair situation in the international competition," Motahari wrote.

"For example, the French team has a large number of players from various African nations, it's not really the French team it's effectively the team of France and its former colonies."

"The same situation, although less serious, applies to Belgium and Germany. The fact that they include a number of African giants shows their weakness at football."

Iran failed to progress from their group at the 2018 World Cup after one win against Morocco, a draw with Portugal and defeat to Spain.

France will face Croatia in the final on Sunday at the Luzhniki Stadium.

By Daraja Mutari