Dugarry accuses M6 of asking him to hide France's poor performances

Christophe Dugarry will not be a pundit on M6 for the 2026 World Cup. The former striker, who worked for the channel during Euro 2024, explained on RMC why the collaboration was not renewed: M6’s sports director allegedly asked him to tone down his criticism of the France team.

“At the end of France’s tournament run, I do the debrief and I sense the sports director is a bit tense. He reproaches me for being too harsh,” Dugarry said on the show Rothen s’enflamme. When he questions his counterpart about the quality of French play, the response leaves him speechless: “No, but it doesn’t matter. Even if it’s not good, you have to say it’s good.”

The comparison that follows convinces him not to renew the venture. “He told me: look at Éric Antoine in La France a un incroyable talent. Even when it’s rubbish, he says it’s good.” Dugarry then tells him he should never have approached him if he expected him to hold a line he doesn’t believe in.

The 1998 World Cup winner and 2000 European champion says he understands the channel’s economic logic — M6 paid dearly for World Cup rights — but refuses to comply. “The least you can do is say what you think anyway,” he concludes, after twenty years of punditry work during which, he assures, no one had ever dictated his editorial line.

He describes the editorial approach planned for the upcoming competition: “They explained to us that they would do positive commentary, that they would only say what is good. The guy who misses a dribble, a goal, a defender who makes a mistake, they won’t mention it anymore.” Dugarry concludes by wishing “good luck” to the pundits who will work on M6 this summer.