France coach Didier Deschamps decdied against including Hatem Ben Arfa in his 23-man squad.

The France coach Didier Deschamps picked the Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud on Thursday for his 23-man squad for Euro 2016, which France will host, only naming the in-form forward Hatem Ben Arfa as a reserve.

Giroud, recovering from a lean spell for his club, is one of six forwards in the squad alongside Antoine Griezmann, Dimitri Payet, Anthony Martial, Kingsley Coman and Andre-Pierre Gignac.

Karim Benzema will miss the tournament after a ban for his involvement in an alleged blackmail scandal was upheld by the French federation last month.

The Real Madrid forward was suspended indefinitely last December after being put under formal investigation by a judge for alleged blackmail over a sex video involving his France team mate Mathieu Valbuena, who was also left out of the squad announced on Thursday.

Ben Arfa, enjoying the most prolific season of his career with 17 goals for Nice, is one of eight reserves who need a player to pull out injured to hope for a place in the final squad, which Deschamps has until 31 May to present to football’s European body Uefa.

"Hatem has had a great season but he’s not the only one in that position," Deschamps said. "Giroud, that’s 25 goals in all competitions this season, for Griezmann it’s even more and Martial is on the same level," he added. "My aim was not to pick the best 23 players but to go for a group capable of going very far in the tournament together."

Deschamps chose to leave out the Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho, who is facing an investigation by Uefa after testing positive for an illegal substance following Liverpool’s Europa League tie against Manchester United on 17 March.

France, who won the 1998 World Cup on home soil and the European Championship two years later with Deschamps as their captain, will also play Albania and Switzerland in the group stage.

France squad
Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur), Steve Mandanda (Olympique Marseille), Benoit Costil (Stade Rennes)

Defenders: Raphael Varane (Real Madrid), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal), Eliaquim Mangala (Manchester City), Jeremy Mathieu (Barcelona), Patrice Evra (Juventus), Bacary Sagna (Manchester City), Lucas Digne (AS Roma), Christophe Jallet (Olympique Lyon)

Midfielders: Paul Pogba (Juventus), Blaise Matuidi (Paris St Germain), Lassana Diarra (Olympique Marseille), N’Golo Kante (Leicester City), Yohan Cabaye (Crystal Palace), Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle United)

Forwards: Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Dimitri Payet (West Ham United), Anthony Martial (Manchester United), Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich), Olivier Giroud (Arsenal), Andre-Pierre Gignac (UANL Tigres)

Reserves: Alphonse Areola (Villarreal), Hatem Ben Arfa (Nice), Kevin Gameiro (Sevilla), Alexandre Lacazette (Olympique Lyon), Adrien Rabiot (Paris St Germain, Morgan Schneiderlin (Manchester United), Djibril Sidibe (Lille), Samuel Umtiti (Olympique Lyon)