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Source of French quota leak identified

Belkacemi attended a meeting along with France coach Laurent Blanc in November at which investigative website Mediapart has alleged officials discussed the idea of establishing unofficial quotas for players with African and Arab origin in youth teams.

According to Le Parisien newspaper, Belkacemi has gone before a federation inquiry team which must issue its findings early next week.

"It's out in the press, so I'm going to have a bit of difficultly contradicting you," French Sports Minister Chantal Jouanno told France Inter radio.

"I never heard those words in the mouth of Laurent Blanc. I talked to him Friday night and Saturday. He was quite shocked and hurt," Jouanno said.

The affair, which has prompted a wave of criticism from the political world, is the latest problem for the FFF following last year's fiasco where the national team went on strike at the World Cup and were dumped out in the group stage.