French passport scandal ends with defeat for Toulouse

The passport scandal in France is at an end after the country's highest court ratified the league standings in the French first division last season.

Nantes stay as 2001 champions as Toulouse lost their legal challenge in the Conseil d'Etat and now face life in the third division after a double relegation. Toulose lost on the pitch and of it last season. Their playing record saw them relegated and they were sent down another division for racking up heavy debts.

Toulouse went to the Conseil claiming that all matches played by St Etienne, Monaco and Metz in which they fielded players holding fake pasports should be considered defeats for those clubs.

But the judges said the claim came too late.

They only overturned the result of St Etienne's 1-0 win over Toulouse which was the only disputed match whose result had not been officially confirmed.

The French federation and the French National League were ordered to pay Toulouse 20,000 francs (£1,800) in legal costs.

"It is satisfying that the Conseil d'Etat recognised that soccer is played on pitches and not in courts," said FFF lawyer Frederic Thiriez after the result..

"Toulouse can be proud of having asked important questions regarding football's organisation," claimedToulouse lawyer Didier Bouthores.

Toulouse president Jacques Rubio says the club will still appeal to the civil courts against his club's relegation for debts.

The passport scandal led to bans for St Etienne's Brazilian players Aloisio and Alex and Ukrainian goalkeeper Maksim Levytsky, AS Monaco's Chilean defender Pablo Contreras and Metz's Colombian goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon.

Only three non-EU players can be fielded in the French first division and the five players found guilty used fake EU passports to get past this rule.