Football: France players’ Euro bonus frozen

PARIS: Bonuses owed to the France team for having made the quarter-finals of the European Championships have been frozen, announced the country’s football federation. Each member of the team that lost 2-0 in the quarters to Spain, was eligible for a bonus of €100,000. “Bonuses of the whole France team at Euro 2012 are frozen,” said federation president Noel Le Graet, in light of the in-fighting and ill-discipline shown. “It’s blocked money, which may be redistributed or maybe not. Four players will go before the disciplinary committee: Hatem Ben Arfa, Yann Mvila, Samir Nasri and Jeremy Menez. Financial sanctions are detailed in our statutes, and possible suspensions for the upcoming cases will be examined most fairly.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2012.