The French government have reportedly granted France national team players a waiver to take part in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers while placing travel restrictions on international footballers over coronavirus fears.
Didier Deschamps’ Les Bleus will face Kazakhstan later this month as part of their 2022 World Cup qualifiers schedule, with players selected for the fixtures allowed to forgo quarantine upon their return to the country.
Meanwhile, French-based internationals have been subjected to restrictions, which has seen national team coaches reshuffle their squad ahead of upcoming games.
The decision taken by the government to halt foreign players from joining their respective teams during the international break, has been greeted with great discontent in the past few days.
Olympique Lyon forward Memphis Depay is the latest in the affected list footballers to call on the French government to rescind such decision after he was called into Frank de Boer’s Netherlands squad this week
The former Manchester United star took to social media to air his dissatisfaction with the preferential treatment for homegrown players.
“French government, can I please join the national team on Monday[?]” the 27-year-old wrote on Twitter.
“That would be fair since y’all make an exception for the France national team that travels outside of Europe to play games as well!!!”
Recall that Benin Republic were handed a huge blow when the news broke that five of their French-based players will not participate in the crucial AFCON qualifiers against Nigeria and Lesotho.
Super Eagles forward Moses Simon, who plays in the French Ligue 1 for Nantes, was also barred from honoring his sides invitation over pandemic scare.
