Maurice Cohen threatens legal action over 26 and 29 May Saint-étienne – Nice
OGC Nice says it may take the LFP to court over saint-étienne – nice if it cannot use even one of its internationals on 26 May and 29 May. The club’s warning turns the playoff tie into a legal dispute as much as a sporting one, with squad availability now tied to decisions from several federations.
In a registered letter to Vincent Labrune, signed by Maurice Cohen, Nice said it reserved the right to use “toute procédure utile” and go before national and international courts to seek full compensation for the damage caused by the league’s scheduling decisions. The club also said it was in a “position d’extrême difficulté sportive, organisationnelle et économique”.
Nice and Labrune
The timing dispute centers on the overlap between the barrages and the FIFA international window fixed for 25 May. Nice said that overlap had been “parfaitement prévisible et identifiable de longue date”, and argued that matches deciding whether a club stays in Ligue 1 should not have been placed on dates exposing some teams to the loss of a substantial part of their professional squad.
The registered letter said the situation is “une atteinte manifeste au principe fondamental d’équité sportive” governing competitions organized under the LFP and the FFF. Nice also did not rule out a boycott of the end of the competition if the letter goes unanswered.
Wahi, Abdi and Boudaoui
Several players are already caught in the middle. Ivory Coast has agreed to release Elye Wahi for the return match, while Ali Abdi’s release request to Tunisia is still pending. Algeria would be willing to release Hicham Boudaoui if all of Nice’s internationals are released, and Kojo Oppong’s possible selection by Ghana is still being negotiated.
Antoine Mendy and Yehvann Diouf, both selected by Senegal, are also part of the issue. Nice said one refusal from a federation could trigger several withdrawals from its squad for 26 May and 29 May, which is why the club opened bilateral talks with the federations involved to seek exceptional releases.
5 May to 19 May
The timeline sharpened the conflict. The Ligue de football professionnel submitted a request for a FIFA exemption on 5 May, and FIFA rejected it on 19 May, leaving Nice to fight case by case for player availability before the Saint-Étienne matches.
That is the practical consequence for Nice now: the club must keep negotiating while warning of legal action if the squad is stripped too heavily for two matches that could decide Ligue 1 survival. Maurice Cohen’s letter makes clear the club is prepared to escalate if the internationals do not get out in time.
