In-form Nice winger Hatem Ben Arfa was left out of the France squad for the European Championship as coach Didier Deschamps unveiled a 23-man squad with no surprise inclusions on Thursday May 12,2016
Ben Arfa scored 17 goals in 33 French league matches this season but was not selected in Deschamps' main group of players for the tournament starting in France on June 10,2016
France plays Romania in the tournament opener on June 10 at the Stade de France in Paris. Group A also includes Switzerland and Albania
Deschamps had many offensive options at his disposal, even without Karim Benzema, who was suspension from the national team because of his involvement in an extortion scam over a sex tape involving France teammate Mathieu Valbuena.
He picked six attacking players, including Antoine Griezmann, Dimitri Payet, Anthony Martial, Kingsley Coman, Olivier Giroud and Andre-Pierre Gignac.
Ben Arfa was put on a standby list of eight players.
Mathieu Valbuena, who has been struggling throughout the season with Lyon, was also left out.
Another victim of the fierce competition in attack was Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette, who scored a hat trick last weekend to take his tally to 21 league goals for the season, but was put on the B list.
The other notable absentee was Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho, who has provisionally been suspended for 30 days by UEFA after failing a doping test.
Note
The last time France hosted a major tournament in 1998, it ended up winning the World Cup. France also won the European Championship in 1984 and 2000.
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