Lilian Thuram is a World and European champion with France, regarded as one of the finest defenders of his generation and his country’s most capped player.

That was a lifetime ago though. In his second career, the 50-year-old, who was in town for the Singapore Writers Festival and the ongoing Voilah! France Singapore Festival, is a human rights activist and author.

On Monday, he sat down with The Straits Times’ assistant sports editor Jonathan Wong to discuss his latest book, White Thinking, which focuses on racial identity, why footballers must speak up for social justice and his hope that his son Marcus will be part of a France team who make history at the Qatar World Cup.

Below is an edited transcript, after translation, of the conversation with Thuram.

Q: Brazil were the last country to win back-to-back World Cups in 1958 and 1962. Your France team won in 1998 but got knocked out in the group stage four years later. What happened?

A: It’s really complicated to win a World Cup. You need a generation of players who are united, going to give it their best for a month. The Cup is once every four years and you don’t know if you will have the players that can perform as well as the previous group. Maybe knowing they can be part of history and leave their mark is something that will motivate this year’s French team.

Q: Didier Deschamps is France’s head coach and guided them to victory in 2018. What was he like as a teammate and captain?

A: Even when he was playing, he was very analytical and had a 360-degree vision of the game and how to improve everyone on the team. It wasn’t a surprise to see him become a trainer and be successful with the national team.

Q: Your son Marcus is part of Les Bleus’ squad. What advice did you give him for his first World Cup?

A: When you’re a father, you always hope for the best for your children. I’m very happy to see him make his dream come true. My advice? To enjoy this experience to the fullest and really appreciate it.

Q: The 1998 France side were nicknamed “black, blanc, beur (black, white, Arab)” for its diversity. Is the France today what you imagined it would be?

A: That victory definitely helped to create a discourse about having a fairer society, about integrating people from different cultures better in French society. Today, that dialogue is very much alive even if there are divergent views.

Q: Why did you want to write this book?

A: Very often, people don’t know the history of racism. Economic systems, such as slavery, have been built on the superiority of the white race.

We are all the product of our pasts, and some prejudices in society that go way back have to be explained.

Q: How has racism in sport changed since you were a player?

A: The big difference is we talk about it a lot more now. More and more people now understand the violence of racism and do not accept racism as something normal any more. That is a positive change.

We live in societies where no matter what your skin colour is, we have a hierarchy of skin colours. It’s important to question this global ideology.

Q: Is fair to expect footballers, managers to take the lead in discussions about racism, politics and war?

A: Before you’re a player or manager, you are a citizen and, as a citizen, you have a duty to talk about social responsibilities, issues like racism. It is part of your responsibility to care as a citizen.

Even in different eras, before you had social media platforms, you always have an opportunity to talk as a football player because of the visibility you have.

It’s not about the medium of communication but about encouraging footballers to have and to use that voice.

Q: You have in the past praised and highlighted (Liverpool captain) Jordan Henderson for his efforts highlighting racism. Why?

A: It’s even more powerful when it’s somebody that is not a black person taking a stand and talking about these issues. It’s even more powerful than somebody who is facing these issues and might be discriminated because of them. So having such allies is important.

It’s similar to sexism, if you have a man standing up for women and talking about how sexism in our society is unacceptable. It’s even more powerful than the woman standing up for this because it’s more expected in a way.