PARIS (AP) France coach Laurent Blanc will drop all 23 World Cup players for his first match next month as collective punishment for the team's embarrassing fiasco in South Africa.
The French federation said Friday in a statement it had granted Blanc permission to suspend the players at the coach's request.
France was eliminated in the group stage at the World Cup, failing to win a game. The players also refused to train as a protest after Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka was sent home following an expletive-laced tirade at then-coach Raymond Domenech.