Thierry Henry: Off to Oz (CliveBrunskill/Allsport)

It means that United and Chelsea will lose two French players each, with the Gunners even harder hit with Robert Pires, Sylvain Wiltord, Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira all set to make the long flight to Melbourne.

After a lengthy battle to get the match called off, or limit the number of players from each club chosen for the game, the clubs had hoped that a FIFA rule which limited the number of times they had to release players for friendly matches would come to their rescue.

As France have not yet played eight friendly matches this year the Confederations Cup counts as a competitive tournament FIFA have given the go-ahead for the players to go to Australia.

A pool of Europe's leading clubs, led by Arsenal, and including Real Madrid, Manchester United and Chelsea, had expressed concern over their players making the long-haul trip Down Under.

But according to Article 36 of FIFA's regulations, clubs must release players for a total of eight international friendly matches per calendar year.

The Players' Status Committee of world football's governing body met yesterday to decide whether the national associations had the right to name full-strength squads.

A FIFA spokesman told PA International: 'As it stands, they (France and Australia) do not need to make changes. The Confederations Cup appearances do not affect the players.'

World champions France have played 12 international matches this calendar year, but five of those were in the Confederations Cup.

Soccer Australia chiefs fumed at suggestions the French would not be bringing a full-strength team, claiming the match was vital to the build-up for their World Cup qualifying play-off against the fifth-placed team from the South American qualiying section.

But France coach Roger Lemerre selected a full-strength squad on Tuesday, going against an earlier recommendation by FIFA that the countries should select just one player per European club.