Newcastle's in-form forward Hatem Ben Arfa has been included in France coach Laurent Blanc's preliminary squad for Euro 2012.
367732 - Ben Arfa handed France Euro 2012 chance

Ben Arfa has not been capped by his country since 2008, but has done enough in recent weeks to prompt Blanc to take a look.

Blanc named 12 players who are not based in France, including Ben Arfa's team-mate Yohan Cabaye and Tottenham Hotspur defender Younes Kaboul, while he will name the domestic-based players next week.

France are in Group D with England, Sweden and co-hosts Ukraine.

Preliminary squad of players based outside France:

Defenders: Gael Clichy (Manchester City), Patrice Evra (Manchester United), Younes Kaboul (Tottenham Hotspur), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal), Philippe Mexes (AC Milan), Adil Rami (Valencia)

Midfielders: Yohan Cabaye (Newcastle United), Florent Malouda (Chelsea), Samir Nasri (Manchester City)

Forwards: Hatem Ben Arfa (Newcastle United), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich)