Chirac Hopes to Cash in on Football Success

President Jacques Chirac will don his football scarf and head to Berlin on Sunday in the hope that a French World Cup win could boost his flagging popularity ratings. He will also be seeking to restore a sense of community spirit after comments by the far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen that there were too many non-whites in the national team.

Record crowds have poured on to the streets to celebrate the success of Les Bleus, as the team is known. Wednesday's semi-final saw the highest television viewing figures since records began, and the finance minister, Thierry Breton, said he hoped the feelgood factor would boost the economy. The daily Libération pondered whether Zinédine Zidane's team could cure French malaise like "a bubble of champagne in an ocean of Prozac". Le Figaro said a victory could inspire a new "state of mind". With France's Amélie Mauresmo in the Wimbledon final today, L'Equipe hailed a joyous weekend.

Politicians are keen to exploit the optimism after months of gloom following riots in the suburbs, protests against employment reform and political and industrial scandals. When France won the World Cup at home in 1998, Mr Chirac and the socialist prime minister, Lionel Jospin, netted the highest approval ratings of their terms and a surge of consumer spending - especially on cars - boosted the economy. Mr Chirac, now more unpopular than ever, is keen for a photo opportunity with the team.

But hopes that France's race problems can be solved by its "black, blanc, beur" (black, white, Arab) team are limited. In 1998 the multiracial team was feted as the great hope of a country that needed to tackle race discrimination, but many commentators suggest not much changed. Even the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, admitted this week that last year's riots in the poor, immigrant suburbs showed the issue was "much more complicated" than a football team.

When Mr Le Pen suggested during this tournament that the coach had gone overboard on non-white players and the French did not feel represented by them, the footballer Lilian Thuram said: "Mr Le Pen is not aware that there are black, blond and brown French people. It's like looking at the US basketball team and being shocked that there are black people in the USA." Thuram has also criticised the interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, for his comments about cleaning up the poor suburbs with a power hose. French papers reported that the team did not want Mr Sarkozy to visit their changing rooms at the World Cup, and he has not yet attended a match.

Riot police will be on the streets on Sunday to keep watch over post-match revelry. More than 400 people were arrested after France's semi-final win.