The Valencia midfielder has played five times for the French senior national team, but in international friendly matches.
The Central African Republic’s hopes of handing Geoffrey Kondogbia his debut in Sunday’s 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier against Guinea have been dashed, with the Valencia midfielder nursing an injury.
A former France youth international, Kondogbia went on to play five times for the World champions in friendly matches, making him eligible to switch international allegiance to CAR.
After availing himself as interested to play for CAR, the France-born midfielder had been included in the 23-man squad to face Guinea in Conakry on Sunday.
But according to the BBC, he will not be available for the Guinea match due to injury as well as awaiting Fifa’s approval to switch national teams.
Kondogbia is reported to have assured CAR coach Raoul Savoy that he would be open for selection next month when the Wild Beasts clash with Ivory Coast in back-to-back ties.
Another former France youth international Quentin Ngakoutou has been roped in to replace Kondogbia.
CAR started the Afcon qualifying campaign brightly with a 2-1 home win over Rwanda.
But they now face a tough task against Guinea who humbled Ivory Coast 3-2 away in their opening qualifier.
Credit:goal.com