Sun: Cantona is a distant relative with the new pope, and his blood relationship can be traced back to 1566

According to the Sun on May 20, Manchester United legend Cantona and new Pope Leo XIV are distant relatives. French genealogy experts recently discovered that the football idol is related to Pope Leo XIV.

Cantona, 58, joined English football in the early 1990s and quickly made her mark. After playing for Leeds United for a short time, he switched to Manchester United in 1992 and spent five years of glory at Old Trafford. Genenet, a genealogy website, conducted in-depth research on Leo XIV's family history after taking office. The real name of the Pope born in Chicago is Robert Francis Prevost. His grandfather was born in Italy and immigrated to the United States and traced back to the Pope's French roots. The study successfully mapped the genealogy of Leo XIV since 1415 and found that he and Cantona were distant cousins. The kinship between the two can be traced back to the 12th to the 15th generation, connected by Beltrand Negre and Louise Jean, who married in Rockval in southern France in 1566. In addition, research also shows that Cantona, born in Marseille in 1966, is also a cousin of the famous writer Albert Camus.

Recently, Cantona returned to Manchester to launch a sport for fans to register the family as a member of the fan club FCUnited. He expressed dissatisfaction with Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliff's decision since taking over the club, accusing the Ineos group owner of trying to "destroy everything" and criticizing the decision to leave the Old Trafford Stadium.

Cantoner: "I support Manchester United because I love this team deeply. But if I were a fan now and needed to choose a club, I don't think I would choose Manchester United. It's very important for me to respect these fans and staff like coaches and teammates. Since Ratcliff's arrival, the situation has been completely the opposite, they are trying to destroy everything and disrespect anyone. They even want to change the stadium, the soul of the team and the club is not just the players, but the entire family. I feel alienated by this decision, they have another strategy and plan, are they close to completing this new plan? I don't think so."