French Football Federation agrees to revise image rights for national team players

By Issy Ronald and Sammy Mngqosini, CNN

The French Football Federation (FFF) has announced it will work to revise its agreement with its national team players regarding the use of their images and rights.

This came after PSG and France star Kylian Mbappé boycotted sponsorship activities — including a photo shoot — scheduled on Tuesday during the French national team’s training camp in Clairefontaine.

CNN has reached out to Mbappé‘s representatives for comment.

“I have decided to not take part in the photo shoot after the French federation’s refusal to change the image rights agreement with the players,” Mbappé said in a statement to ESPN.

“My representatives and I fully regret that no agreement could be reached, as asked, before the World Cup.”

In a statement on Twitter, the FFF said, “The FFF is looking forward to working on the outlines of a new agreement that will enable it to protect its interests while taking into consideration the legitimate concerns and convictions unanimously expressed by its players.

“Following conclusive discussions with Équipe de France executives, the president, the coach and a marketing manager, the French Football Federation commits to revise, as soon as possible, the agreement on image rights that binds it to its national team players,” the FFF statement continued.

Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels (UNFP), the French players’ association, had no further comment to add at this time.

The disagreement between Mbappé and the federation began back in March when the 23-year-old first boycotted activities with one of the team’s sponsors, according to multiple French media sources.

Three months later, FFF President Noël Le Graët told L’Équipe that the agreement on image rights would not change before the World Cup — a position the federation has now U-turned on.

Earlier in the year, Mbappé was at the center of a transfer battle between Real Madrid and Paris-Saint-Germain when the subject of image rights once again played an important role.

In the Spanish club’s fourth offer to the French star, it offered him 50% of the profits from his image rights — a condition that reportedly helped to shift the striker’s preferences back to Paris-Saint Germain, who offered a more lucrative percentage, according to sources close to the player, Spanish outlet El País reported.

France will next play on Thursday when it faces Austria in the Nations Cup, followed by Denmark three days later.

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CNN’s Arnaud Siad contributed to this report.