Nicolas Anelka's profanity-laced tirade at the World Cup may have been his last act in a France national team football shirt.
The Chelsea striker was suspended by the French Football Federation for 18 matches Tuesday for his role in the fiasco that marred France's World Cup campaign, a ban that is expected to last for nearly two years. By the time the 2012 European Championship comes around, Anelka will be 33 years old and may be too old to make the team - if they qualify.
Anelka was one of five players called before the FFF's disciplinary commission, which also handed former captain Patrice Evra a five-match ban, Franck Ribery a three-match ban and Jeremy Toulalan a one-match suspension. The players can appeal.
Eric Abidal, the fifth player summoned to the four-hour hearing, escaped any sanctions.
''They (the players) are a bit bruised by the way things unfolded,'' said Jean Mazzella, the president of the disciplinary commission. ''They didn't think it would take on the proportions that it has, that's for sure.''
All 23 players on France's World Cup squad boycotted a training session in South Africa to protest Anelka's expulsion after he insulted then-coach Raymond Domenech during a 2-0 loss to Mexico.
But the French federation only summoned the five players who played a leading role in the mutiny. Ribery and Anelka - whose dressing-room rage triggered the strike - sent lawyers. Ribery, who was vice captain at the World Cup, did not attend the hearing because Bayern Munich refused to release him ahead of its opening Bundesliga match on Friday against Wolfsburg.
Only Evra, Abidal and Toulalan showed up at the hearing, federation official Yann Le Guillard said. And former France team director Jean-Louis Valentin said they appeared to regret their actions.
''The players seemed sincerely sorry for what happened,'' said Valentin, who resigned when the players refused to take part in a training session and, instead, sat in the team bus under the eye of cameras from around the world. ''I felt they were very affected by that event.
''It's obvious that if they had to do it again, they wouldn't do it,'' Valentin said.
Domenech was among those who attended Tuesday's hearing, along with then-FFF president Jean-Pierre Escalettes and assistant coach Alain Boghossian.
Valentin, who attended the hearing as a witness and was the only one to comment later, expressed a clear measure of sympathy for what he said where chastened players. As far as he is concerned, he said, ''everybody has the right to a second chance.''
He said that dialogue within the group called to testify was ''excellent'' and that Domenech was ''dignified.''
''We talked again about the events. In some ways, there was a very good dialogue that was, at times, moving,'' Valentin said. ''Everybody was aware that there was a collective mess-up, and now we have to turn the page and move on.''
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 must have pride in the French colors, and think of all the young people who are training to become football players,'' Mazzella said. ''That's important.''
Since returning from South Africa, Anelka has complained that he was upset with Domenech for playing him out of position. He also said he thought of quitting the team before the World Cup but stayed because several teammates asked him to remain with the squad.
The players have already been punished financially, with the federation withholding their World Cup bonuses. Hardliners like Lilian Thuram, a former international and a member of the FFF council, even said Evra should never play for France again.
France coach Laurent Blanc who wanted 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 - will miss Anelka, Evra, Ribery and Toulalan for the Euro 2012 qualifier against Belarus in September.
''Those sanctions are weakening the future of the France team,'' said Rudi Garcia, the Lille coach. ''We need to again find a conquering France team with all its assets.
''Laurent Blanc himself said that we shouldn't shoot ourselves in the foot. Well, there are a few toes hurt.''
AP Television News producer Jeffrey Schaeffer contributed to this report.
