Stade Francais’ Top 14 relegation threats surface again because of FACEM's fraud – Rugby news
Paris based French professional rugby union team, Stade Francais’s, is once again under threat of bein kicked out of France’s Top 14. Stade Francais finished 11th at the end of the 2010/11 French Top 14 season with 49 points coming from their
26 games in the season that included 11 wins.
In the last week of May, Stade Francais was summoned by the DNACG, French rugby union’s official financial watchdog, for the massive short fall in their budget and increasing debts over the club. The club’s poor financial health put Stade Francais on the
verge of Top 14 relegation.
However, the newly appointed club president, Max Guazzini, and coach Bernard Laporte have filed a petition against the Canadian FACEM. The move by club was confirmed in a statement released on their website.
The statement read, “In both his role as President of Stade Francais and on a personal note, he has made a formal complaint against X in Paris for fraud. In fact, after an enquiry made last weekend, it appeared that the documents and guarantees furnished
by the FACEM Corporation, rubberstamped by a major international bank, were false. It was only at a meeting yesterday (Monday) afternoon, at the headquarters of this bank that Stade Francais Paris had confirmation of this fraud in which it is the victim.”
Earlier, FACEM Corporation has agreed to buy 66% shares of the French club that could give the organization 12 million Euros. The move was considered enough to help the club come back from the brink of financial meltdown. Stade Francais financial health
worsened after a failure of their advertising company “Sportys”.
Stade Francais will appear before the Rugby National League's financial committee in the last week of June.
Club officials have hinted that they have started to explore other options to keep their Top 14 spot secure. The statement released on the website read, “Since last night (Monday) a new round of talks has been opened so as to ensure the future and the long
term health of the club.”
To ease their financial vows, Stade Francais has already relieved the contracts of some of the teams most highly paid players, which includes the likes of English international flanker James Haskell.
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