It has been confirmed that a knee injury will rule Manchester City's French midfielder Samir Nasri out of Friday night's high-profile exhibition against the United States at Stade de France.

Nasri suffered from issues with his knee tendon following City's UEFA Champions League win over Villarreal last week and did not make his club's starting line-up for the thrilling 3-2 Premier League triumph over QPR on Saturday.

Tickets for the U.S. Men's National Team match vs. France are now available online through the French Football Federation Website. While the website is in French, you can change the language to English at the bottom left hand corner of the page.

For U.S. fans, the visiting supporters section is located in the South Stand - and tickets are only 10 euros!

Arsenal full-back Bacary Sagna has undergone successful surgery on his broken leg and is expected to be sidelined for a minimum of three months.

The France international suffered the injury during the Gunners' 2-1 defeat to North London rivals Tottenham on Sunday.

The French Football Federation revealed later that evening that the defender was set to be ruled out of action for around 12 weeks.

By CALEB SONNELAND

All is not well in London — more specifically, at Arsenal.

The club confirmed today that long-time regular right back Bacary Sagna suffered a broken leg in Arsenal's 1-2 defeat at the hands of Tottenham in the North London derby on Sunday.

Swansea City have been left stunned by FIFA's decision to deny international clearance for the signings of Darnel Situ and Rafik Halliche.

Swansea had agreed a £250,000 transfer fee to sign Situ from Lens, as well as a loan deal for Fulham defender Halliche, on transfer deadline day.

Live women's football matches will be broadcast for the first time in France as of next season, the French Football Federation (FFF) president Noel Le Graet said Thursday after selling the rights to France Television and Eurosport.

A tremendous game today: the polar opposite of U.S.-Brazil, and indeed of France-England, but as riveting in it's way. That was a relief, since I'm not sure I could have handled the kinds of emotional ups and downs that this past weekend delivered. Tonight, instead of the drama of confusing calls and the absurdity of penalty kicks, we had a clean, flowing game, one won through determined and brilliant play-making by the U.

Watching the France-Canada game of the Women's World Cup yesterday, I was exhilarated by the playing of the French side. Their dominance in the game was a surprise to many, and to me, and also a little ghostly: suddenly, I was watching the sort of flowing, graceful, entertaining French football which for the past years had existed mainly in my imagination.

UEFA has confirmed eleven stadia as venues for the 2016 European Championship.

The French Football Federation have finalised the following as host cities:
Paris - Stade de France 81,000, Parc des Princes 51,000
Marseilles - 67,000
Lyon - 51,000
Toulouse - 41,000
Saint Etienne - 41,000
Bordeaux - 42,000
Lens - 45,000
Lille - 50,000
Nancy - 35,000
Nice - 35.

PARIS, France — The French football federation has named the nine cities that will host matches during the 2016 European championships. Bordeaux, Lens, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nancy, Nice, Paris and Saint-Denis were chosen on Friday ahead of Saint-Etienne and Toulouse, which have been named as reserve locations.

Laurent Blanc has today been cleared of any wrongdoing in the ongoing race scandal that is threatening to tear the French Football Federation apart. Race scandal? Yeah, you know, the race scandal in French football? You don't know?! What a surprise.

Allow me. There has been a massive uproar in France this past week about the fact that a French website reported that members of the FFF's technical board had met in November and discussed introducing race quotas at French football academies.

By CALEB SONNELAND

French national team manager Laurent Blanc today has been cleared of racism charges by the French Football Federation.

Claims that Blanc had backed a project to reduce the number of ethnic minority players in the national set-up put the Frenchman under the spotlight.

- Maxi Rodriguez

The French Football Federation's racial quotas are such a fascinating topic, in large part because it's such a unique demonstration of prejudice. Racism, unfortunately, is not an issue alien to the footballing world. Fascist ultras, shaven-head neo-nazis, and primate imagery are all familiar territory for football fans.

An investigative report by the Mediapart website revealed that numerous managers of the National Technical Directorate (DTN) and the French Football Federation (FFF) approved the "principle of discriminatory quotas" in November 2010. Their objective? To limit the number of players of West African and North African origin.

By FRANCO PANIZO

If Jose Mourinho didn't receive enough punishment by seeing Real Madrid bounced out of the Champions League by arch-rival Barcelona, he surely has now.

Mourinho was handed a five-match suspension and fined about $81,000 by UEFA for his sending off during the first leg of the Champions League semifinal against Barcelona.

The last few days have offered some new and crucial details in the story of racism at the French Football Federation. The initial reaction by those implicated, including Laurent Blanc, was to deny that they had said what Mediapart accused them of saying. But they rapidly backtracked, perhaps because they had realized that in fact the blog had access to a tape-recording of the entire meeting, from late 2010, in which the idea of the need for "quotas" aimed at limiting certain kinds of youth players was discussed.

It was a great weekend for Seattle sports. The sun made a welcome appearance and plenty of people were out in the parks playing pick-up games. The Seattle Sounders absolutely dominated Toronto FC in front of a packed house and the crowd was as loud as I've ever heard them at a regular season game.

The French Football Federation has issued a communiqué by Laurent Blanc in response to the allegations published last week by Mediapart about the existence of a plan to limit the numbers of "black and Arab" football players within the national youth system. It's a rather strange statement. Blanc, who initially issued a blanket denial about everything attributed to him in the article, now seems to be admitting that he did participate in a discussion about the topic of players who might have the possibility of playing for other national teams, and more broadly about the issue of the style of play being developed within the youth system.

French Football Federation (FFF) technical director François Blaquart has been suspended by the French Government pending an investigation following his statement that the FFF is concerned about investing in training players who make themselves unavailable for selection for the French national team by choosing to play for another country.

The coming week will presumably bring more twists and turns in the now explosive question of racism in the midst of the French Football Federation. Already, as Libération reported this morning, one high-ranking member of the Federation specifically named in the Mediapart article that broke has been suspended, and an internal investigation launched.

Since the Guardian, which is a daily read for me, has put the story front and center, I suppose I could risk a short post on the alleged racism in the French Football Federation (FFF).

The allegation is that the FFF discussed using race as a selection criterion for entry of 12 and 13 year olds into football training academies.

France manager Laurent Blanc has denied any knowledge of a controversial alleged proposal by the French Football Federation (FFF) to limit the number of black and arab players by introducing discriminatory quotas.

Reports that French football chiefs, including Blanc, had discussed and approved the introduction of a ceiling on non-whites emerged Thursday via Mediapart.

Should these allegations prove true, the French Football Federation is in for heaps and heaps of trouble, one might expect.

A report was released detailing that the FFF supposedly imposed an "ethnic quota" on club trainees, meaning that no club could have more than 30% of those 12 or older to be of Arab or African descent.

This afternoon the French blog Mediapart published a stunning report, based on several weeks of investigation, that argues that racist ideas have become normalized, indeed banalized, at the highest levels of the French Football Federation. You can read an English version of the report here. And I have published a piece in reaction the article at Mediapart, which echoes and extends some of the reflections here.

I've been a good fan: sticking with the French through the decade since 1998, through ups and downs and waves of absurdity. I managed to get through the experience and the aftermath of the 2006 World Cup, though it did take writing an entire book about the history of French soccer to do so. I hobbled through the Shakespearean tragedy of 2008 European Cup, watching my hero Thuram outrun and outfoxed in one game, then exiled to the bench for his final match for France.

Marseille and Lyon have crashed out of the European Champions League (European Club Cup) in the Round of 16, leaving France with no clubs in the round of 8.

But France players, as usual, are well represented.

One of the topics to generate discussion on this site has been the plight of Karim Benzema at Real Madrid.

PARIS, France Former France coach Raymond Domenech has broken his silence over the World Cup debacle, labeling the players "stupid brats" for going on strike at a training session to make "a laughing stock" of their country. Domenech's bitter six-year tenure as France coach ended after last year's World Cup in South Africa and [.

On Monday, American sportswear giant Nike announced its partnership with the French Football Federation. As part of the announcement, the France Nike 2011/12 home kit was officially launched with a massive media campaign involving a high-tech presentation, TV spots, YouTube videos, Facebook coverage and a dedicated website.

PARIS — France coach Laurent Blanc on Monday expressed his dismay that the new multi-million euro France kit makes Les Bleus look too much like their Italian rivals. "I find that the completely blue jersey is beautiful but a bit Italian," said Blanc after US sports apparel giants Nike unveiled the new kit in Paris.

Nike announced its partnership with the French Football Federation today at the Espace Cambon, unveiling the new team kits with French players Abou Diaby, Alou Diarra, Florent Malouda and Yann MVila, France Coach Laurent Blanc and NIKE, Inc. President and CEO, Mark Parker.

PARIS Nike announced its partnership with the French Football Federation today at the Espace Cambon, unveiling the new team kits with French players Abou Diaby, Alou Diarra, Florent Malouda and Yann MVila, France Coach Laurent Blanc and NIKE, Inc. President and CEO, Mark Parker. The elegantly designed kits combine French style and tradition with Nike [.

This is the new France 11/12 home football shirt made by Nike. Bringing the glory back to France, the French Football Federation Official Home Men's Football Shirt is one of the most advanced in Nike's lineup.