Anelka suspended for 18 matches for insulting France coach at World Cup, Evra banned for 5

Anelka suspended for 18 matches for World Cup rant

PRIS — The French Football Federation suspended Nicolas Anelka for 18 matches for his role in the France team’s World Cup fiasco, and handed a five-match ban to former captain Patrice Evra.

The FFF’s disciplinary commission, which met Tuesday, also gave a three-match ban to Franck Ribery and a one-match suspension to Jeremy Toulalan. Eric Abidal, the fifth player summoned to the hearing, escaped any sanctions.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

PARIS (AP) — The French Football Federation summoned five players Tuesday for a disciplinary hearing regarding their roles in the national team’s strike at the World Cup, a session that could lead to sanctions ranging from lifetime international bans to a mere reprimand.

Jeremy Toulalan arrived Tuesday morning at FFF headquarters for a potential daylong hearing. Other players called to appear were captain Patrice Evra, Franck Ribery, Eric Abidal and Nicolas Anelka, whose changing-room rage triggered the strike. It was unclear whether some were sending in lawyers to represent them.

All 23 players on France’s World Cup squad boycotted a training session at the tournament in South Africa to protest Anelka’s expulsion from the squad after he insulted then-coach Raymond Domenech during a 2-0 loss to Mexico.

Domenech was among those expected to attend the hearing. Assistant coach Alain Boghossian was seen entering the building.

Former France team director Jean-Louis Valentin, who resigned when the players refused to take part in the training session, said as he entered that he was “serene.”

“I came here to testify, say what I’ve been through,” Valentin said.

“Justice, yes,” he said in response to a question. “But mainly I think we need to overcome what happened with the idea that it can’t ever happen again.”

France was eliminated after the first round of the World Cup without winning a match. But it was the players’ actions, including the squad’s sit-in on the team bus, that horrified the French public and drew condemnation from President Nicolas Sarkozy and other political leaders.

The players have already been punished financially, with the federation withholding their World Cup bonuses. But hard-liners such as Lilian Thuram, a former international and a member of the FFF council, said Evra should never play for France again.

France coach Laurent Blanc wants to move on after having dropped all 23 players for his first match in charge last week — a 2-1 loss to Norway in a friendly.

“I did not become a national coach to punish the France team,” Blanc said. “What I’m interested in is to put together the best team with the best players. To get the best results, I must try to have the best team.”

Blanc hopes to have all players available for 2012 European Championship qualifiers against Belarus and Bosnia in September.

Ribery, who was vice captain at the World Cup, wasn’t expected at the hearing because Bayern Munich refused to release him before its opening Bundesliga match on Friday against Wolfsburg.

Jeff Schaeffer of Associated Press Television News contributed to this report.