France: automatic relegation of Nîmes overturned on appeal, club will get 8-point penalty in 2015-16

The appeal board of the FFF annulled the automatic relegation to the National (French third division) of Nîmes Olympique (Ligue 2) for the 2015-16 season on 20/05/2015, but decided to impose an 8-point penalty on the club for the 2015-16 season of Ligue 2.

This decision reverses that of the Disciplinary Committee of the LFP, which, on 17/03/2015, imposed the automatic relegation of Nîmes Olympique after the 2014-15 season, due to "attempts to fix games played late in the 2013-14 season."

• Nîmes Olympique is currently 13^th in Ligue 2 after 37 matchdays, with 46 points (12 wins, 10 draws and 15 defeats).
• On 23/12/2014, the LFP's Disciplinary Committee began to examine a dossier regarding Nîmes Olympique and other clubs implicated in the investigation into seven games played at the end of the 2013-14 Ligue 2 season by Nîmes, who were suspected of having managed to stay in Ligue 2 through match-fixing.

Other measures taken by the LFP Disciplinary Committee on 17/03/2015

• Serge Kasparian, former majority shareholder of Nîmes Olympique: banned a license to be involved in French…