LONDON, May 30: Former world champions France and Italy were among Euro 2012 hopefuls to finalise their 23-man squads on deadline day Tuesday with 10 days to go before the start of the tournament.

Italy coach Cesare Prandelli left out Zenit St Petersburg defender Domenico Criscito, who on Monday was notified by police he was being investigated in a corruption probe.

Defender Andrea Ranocchia and forward Mattia Destro too were left out but centre-back Leonardo Bonucci, a defender with Serie A champions Juventus, was included in the final list despite being believed to be among suspects in a probe by prosecutors in Bari, where he played until 2010.

Prandelli had last week gathered a preliminary group of 32 players, and like all 16 national team coaches had to submit his final squad to European administrative body UEFA on Tuesday.

France coach Laurent Blanc meanwhile left out midfielder Yoann Gourcuff and newcomer Mapou Yanga when confirming his final squad.

Gourcuff endured a miserable season with his club, marred by injuries and lack of form, but had been given hope of going to the finals in Poland and Ukraine when Blanc — who previously coached him at Bordeaux — included him in an initial 25-man squad.

However, he failed to impress in Sunday’s 3-2 friendly win against Iceland and will now watch the tournament from home.

Blanc had called up 26 players earlier this month, and had two players to omit after the withdrawal through injury of Olympique Marseille striker Loic Remy.

The France squad is led by Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema and Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery as 10 players are left from the 2010 World Cup team which went out winless in South Africa and caused more turmoil off the pitch.

France, who won the 2000 European Championship two years after becoming world champions, and Italy, the 2006 world champions, are regarded among the favourites for the June 8-July 1 tournament in Poland and Ukraine.

England included injured doubts Danny Welbeck and Glen Johnson after they were both passed fit to play.

The squad showed only two changes from the original 23 unveiled by manager Roy Hodgson earlier this month.

Everton defender Phil Jagielka comes in for the injured Gareth Barry, ruled out on Monday, while Birmingham goalkeeper Jack Butland replaces John Ruddy, who broke a finger in training last week.

Former champions Greece’s final squad was meanwhile without midfielders Alexandros Tziolis and Panagiotis Kone from a provisional list, while Czech coach Michael Bilek selected Vladimir Darida as backup for injury concern Tomas Rosicky but left out midfielder Daniel Pudil. Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin omitted goalkeeper Olexandr Bandura, defender Vitaly Mandzyuk and midfielder Taras Stepanenko in finalizing his squad, while Croatia’s coach Slaven Bilic cut four players — Goran Blazevic, Sime Vrsaljko, Dejan Lovren Nikola Kalinic — from his provisional list.

Other coaches had already named their final squads including Germany’s Joachim Loew who finalised his on Monday rather than wait until Tuesday as originally planned.

Loew decided to omit striker Cacau, goalkeeper Marc-Andre te Stegen and midfielders Sven Bender and Julian Draxler following Saturday’s 5-3 defeat against Switzerland in Basel.

Cacau’s absence means Germany travels to the tournament with only two out-and-out strikers, Mario Gomez and Miroslav Klose. —Agencies