Former French international Thuram lectures on anti-racism in Ecuador

The former French football world champion Lilian Thuram is in Ecuador to give a series of lectures against racism and promotes his foundation "Education Against Racism". "It's important to overcome racism. From my experience I want to talk to children so they will not have the biases when they grow up," Thuram said at a press conference here on Tuesday. The retired defender, who was the most capped player in the history of the France national team, will stay in Ecuador until Friday to give lecture in schools and Afro-Ecuadorian communities. According to his planned agenda, Thuram will visit an Olympic High Performance Centre in the northern coastal province of Esmeraldas on Friday. The former world champion expressed his pleasure to share his experience and present his book "My Black Stars" in the South American country. "Racism is part of the construction of the story, but will change the collective imaginary part of the solution," he said, noting that "out of this you need to change things from within each person." Thuram used to play at the top flight in France, Italy and Spain for over 15 seasons, including ten in the Serie A with both Parma and Juventus. With France, Thuram won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. He expressed the wish Tuesday that France and Ecuador, which share the group E of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, can overcome the group stage. "We (France) lucky enough to play in the World Cup final qualifier because it's very difficult. I hope things go well to my country and yours."