Lyon star Houssem Aouar has CHANGED international allegiance and will not play for France

Lyon star Houssem Aouar has switched his national allegiance away from France, despite being capped for the 2018 World Cup champions.

The midfielder has attracted interest from clubs in Europe and is out of contract in the summer, with Real Betis, Roma and Nottingham Forest all linked with Aouar.

Aouar represented both France Under-17s and Under-21s before he was called up to the national team by Didier Deschamps for his first senior cap.

The 24-year-old made his France debut in his side’s 7-1 demolition of Ukraine at the Stade de France, with Aouar picking up two assists on his first and only start.

Aouar was previously called up for France’s Nations League campaign, but he was an unused substitute against Croatia and was left out of the squad against Portugal.

The Frenchman, who is of Algerian descent, failed to make Deschamps’ France squads for Euro 2020 and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

According to reports, Aouar is expected to end his short-lived run with France and switch his national allegiance to Algeria.

DZfoot reports that Algerian Football Federation (AFF) president Djahid Zefizef has confirmed that Aouar will now play for Algeria.

Aouar had previously remained tight-lipped on his international future after speculation mounted that he could represent Algeria.

Speaking ahead of Lyon’s 1-0 defeat to Marseille in November 2022, the ex-France international refused to discuss a potential switch to the Algeria national team.

“I want to talk about Marseille only,” Aouar said at the time, as per L’Equipe.

FIFA’s rules have stated that a player is eligible to switch nationalities so long as they have not featured in a competitive match for a country.

And the World Cup organisers will need to approve any national allegiance change regarding a player.

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The Algerian FA previously invited Aouar to play for Algeria in a friendly match against Nigeria in September last year.

“Algeria have called up Lyon midfielder Houssem Aouar,” reporter Dean Ammi tweeted at the time.

“It is now down to the player if he wants to join up with the squad or not.”