Upwards of a dozen ex-Stade Francais players are taking legal action against the Parisian club

Stade Francais are allegedly facing court action in September from a number of former players who feel cheated due to non-payment from their company savings plan. 

French daily L’Equipe has reported that upwards of a dozen players, including the likes of Lorenzo Cittadini, Emmanuel Felsina, Sakaria Taulafo, Craig Burden, Bakary Meïté, Charl McLeod, Paul Williams, Romain Martial and Marvin O’Connor, who all left the Parisian club at the end of the 2017/18 season, believe they are each owed between €19,000 and €20,000.

They all exited the club at a time when administrators were told to radically cut the payroll and they have now officially taken legal action against their former employer. 

It is believed a date for September has been set for first conciliation talks between the parties at the French labour court. The players are trying to assert their rights to a payment that is usually included in the contracts they sign and can be considered as part of the remuneration.

If an agreement is not reached between the two parties at the labour court, they would move to a tie-breaker hearing before the Conseil des Prud’Hommes.

The revelation of this court action is the latest unsettling story to emerge about the under-achieving Parisian club now owned by Hans-Pieter Wild. 

They have failed to qualify for the Top 14 play-offs for the fourth consecutive season, have reputedly recorded an operating deficit of €35milllion over the course of the past two years, and a series of internal wrangling has led to the messy departures of some high profile people. 

That list includes ousted coach Julien Dupuy, Bordeaux-bound Alexandre Flanquart, Bayonne signing Djibril Camara and long-serving talisman Sergio Parisse, who quit last Friday and was quickly announced as a Toulon acquisition on Monday.  

South African head coach Heyneke Meyer has also lost the services of his two Irish assistants for next season after Mike Prendergast took up a role at cross-city rivals Racing 92 and Paul O’Connell opted against taking up the second year of his contract. 

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