- Title: FRANCE/FILE: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Entire French World Cup squad suspended
- Date: 24th July 2010
- Summary: KNYSNA, SOUTH AFRICA (FILE JUNE 2010) (REUTERS) BUS CARRYING FRENCH TEAM ARRIVING AT TRAINING GROUND PUBLIC IN VIEWING STANDS AT GROUND MORE OF BUS ARRIVING LOCAL SOCCER FANS CHANTING AND DANCING AS TEAM ARRIVE COACH RAYMON DOMENECH DISEMBARKING FROM BUS TRAINING GROUND WITH PLAYERS APPROACHING IN THE DISTANCE PLAYERS WALKING ACROSS GROUND TO MEET PUBLIC CAPTAIN PA
- Embargoed: 8th August 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Sports
- Reuters ID: LVA5CHAQCF4B5GGXXIAH9IST9DXP
- Story Text: France's 23-member World Cup squad have been suspended for the country's next game after their first-round exit from this year's tournament, the French Football Federation (FFF) said on Friday (July 23).
The decision was taken during a meeting of the FFF's Federal council on the recommendation of new coach Laurent Blanc.
France's ignominious departure from South Africa followed a players' boycott of a training session in support of striker Nicolas Anelka, who was sent home for insulting coach Raymond Domenech, whose six-year tenure ended in shame after the boycott.
Blanc, who was appointed on July 2 to replace Domenech and restore the pride of the 1998 world champions, will announce on Aug. 5 the players selected for the game against Norway in Oslo six days later.
The FFF's council was also expected to discuss the positions of playmaker Franck Ribery and striker Karim Benzema, who are under judicial investigation on suspicion of solliciting sex with an under-age prostitute.
However caretaker president Fernand Duchaussoy, holding his first news conference after replacing Jean-Pierre Escalettes who resigned after the World Cup, said no decision had been taken.
Some council members had also called for the dismissal of Domenech, whose six-year tenure ended in shame after the boycott.
"I will summon Raymond Domenech in the coming days. Unacceptable unethical things have happened. You understand that under the circumstances I can't tell you more. In the curent governance, the responsibility of the Federation, as much as my responsibility, are at stake. We made mistakes and we let a situation slip, it culminated on June 20th with the bus of shame," Duchaussoy said.
Duchaussoy said the council fully approved Blanc's proposal to omit all 23 players selected by the French Federation for the World Cup.
He said heavier sanctions against the leaders of the team's mutiny in Knysna, where the players refused to train two days before their last group game, would depend on the result of an inquiry already ordered by Escalettes.
The first official game under Blanc is on Sept. 3 when France host Belarus in a Euro 2012 qualifier. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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