Date:20/06/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/06/20/stories/2003062003591800.htm

Sport - Football

Monaco earns reprieve, retains first division status

PARIS JUNE 19. Monaco, recently relegated to the second division because of crippling debts, will regain its first division status next season, a soccer official said on Thursday.

An official from the French Football Federation said an appeals committee had considered Monaco's case and authorised the club to return to the first division — as long as the club maintains tight spending controls.

``Justice has been done,'' Monaco Sporting Director Henri Biancheri told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

``Monaco is, behind Saint-Etienne and Marseille, the second-most successful team in the history of French soccer — it doesn't belong in division two,'' he added.