The Football Association will demand that Nicolas Anelka serves out his five-match ban for making the quenelle gesture before he can start playing for his new team, Mumbai City in India.
Anelka made the gesture, a Nazi-style salute, during a Premier League match in December 2013. He claimed at the time that it was a tribute to his friend, the antisemitic French comedian Dieudonne M'bala.
The 35 year old former French international has paid £80,000 in fines but so far has avoided the five-game suspension imposed by the FA, having failed to sign for a new club since being sacked by West Bromwich Albion.
The FA confirmed that it had not yet received an international transfer request from the Indian Mumbai City football club.
