A SPAT erupted around last night’s Euro 2008 qualifier between France and Italy after Lilian Thuram, the French footballer, invited 70 homeless immigrants to the Stade de France for the game.

Thuram, backed by Patrick Vieira, the captain, extended the invitation to show support for about 200 squatters, most of them illegal immigrants, who have lived in a school gymnasium south of Paris for the past two weeks.

Buses were to take them to the stadium. The footballers’ move was praised by leftwing politicians. “The initiative . . . is a reminder of the republican values of fraternity and equality,” Malek Boutih, the Socialist Party secretary for social issues, said.

Hard-right politicians deplored the invitations as a gimmick. Philippe de Villiers, the leader of the Movement for France group, said: “Why don’t they go even farther and invite these illegal immigrants to stay in their homeland?” Jean-François Lamour, the Sports Minister, said that players could invite who they wished, but he called on the national football federation “to take care that a match of the French team is not used as a tool”.

Thuram has often spoken out against the policies of President Chirac’s Government towards immigration and conditions in the suburban housing estates, which are dominated by French of Arab and African origin. About half the team, including Zinédine Zidane, the recently retired captain, come from immigrant backgrounds.

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