MVila sees French national team ban reduced

01 February 2013 19:17

The French Football Federation have agreed to reduce the suspension imposed on midfielder Yann M'Vila for his involvement in an unauthorised night out while on duty with the France under-21 squad.

M'Vila had originally been banned until the end of June 2014, effectively ruling him out of a place in the France squad should Les Bleus qualify for next summer's World Cup in Brazil.

However, the last four months of that ban have now been suspended, meaning that the 22-year-old will now be available for selection again as of March 1 next year.

M'Vila, who has been capped 22 times, recently left Ligue 1 club Rennes to join Russian outfit Rubin Kazan.

He was the highest profile of five under-21 squad members that took a taxi from the Normandy city of Le Havre to Paris -- a journey of 200 kilometres -- in between the two legs of a European Championship qualifying playoff against Norway.

Having won the first leg 1-0, the French team lost 5-3 in the return to miss out on a place in the finals in Israel in June.

Toulouse striker Wissam Ben Yedder also had his ban reduced by three months, meaning he will be open to selection again as of December 31.

The other three players implicated -- Real Sociedad's Antoine Griezmann, Mbaye Niang of AC Milan and Chris Mavinga of Rennes -- were all banned until December 31 this year, and decided not to appeal.

Source: AFP