CNN
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The French Football Federation (FFF) has announced that it will work to revise its agreement with its national team players regarding the use of their images and rights.
This comes after PSG and France star Kylian Mbappé boycotted sponsorship activities – including a photo shoot – planned during the France national team’s training camp in Clairefontaine on Tuesday.
CNN has reached out to Mbappé’s representatives for comment.
“I decided not to take part in the photoshoot after the French FA refused to change the image rights agreement with the players,” Mbappé said in a statement to ESPN.
“My representatives and I very much regret that the required agreement could not be reached before the World Cup.”
In an opinion to TwitterThe FFF said: “The FFF looks forward to working on the broad outlines of a new agreement that will allow it to protect its interests while addressing the legitimate concerns and beliefs unanimously expressed by its players.
“Following final discussions with executives of the Équipe de France, the president, the coach and a marketing manager, the French Football Federation is committed to revising the image rights agreement that binds it to its national team players as soon as possible,” the FFF statement continued .
Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels (UNFP), the French players’ association, had no further comment to add at this time.
The disagreements between Mbappé and the federation began back in March, according to multiple French media sources, when the 23-year-old first boycotted activities with one of the team’s sponsors.
Three months later, FFF president Noël Le Graët told L’Équipe that the image rights agreement would not change ahead of the World Cup – a position the federation has now reversed.
Earlier this year, Mbappé was at the center of a transfer battle between Real Madrid and Paris-Saint-Germain as image rights issues once again came to the fore.
In the Spanish club’s fourth bid for the French star, he offered him 50% of the profits from his image rights – a condition that reportedly helped shift the striker’s preferences back to Paris-Saint Germain, who are said to be a more lucrative percentage offered sources close to the player, reported Spanish outlet El País.
France next plays Austria in the Nations Cup on Thursday, followed three days later by Denmark.