Former Nigerian international Godwin Okpara jailed for sexually assaulting a minor is set to regain his freedom next year.

Opara who played in the 1998 World Cup was jailed along with his wife for assaulting a minor in France February 2008.

MTNFootball.com has learnt that Okpara would have by now been released from a French jail if he had agreed to the condition that he would be deported from France immediately he is set free.

“Okpara has maintained that he wants to live in France when he is out of prison and that was why the earlier arrangement to free him in August was shelved,” a source close to the player disclosed.

“His argument is that he has lived most of his adult life in Europe and all his four children were born there and as such he would rather live there than back in Nigeria.”

Okpara was jailed for 10 years in 2008 for sexually molesting a 13-year-old girl under his care.However, he is to be released before the end of his jail sentence for good behaviour.

The former Paris Saint-Germain defender will be 40 when he leaves French prison.