French Top 14 champions Toulouse fined for salary breaches

Toulouse, who have just won their fourth straight French title, have been fined 2.88 million euros (3.3mn dollars) for violations of the Top 14 "salary cap", the National Rugby League (LNR) said Friday.

The French champions escaped any sporting sanctions as the LNR's disciplinary committee was limited to imposing financial sanctions. The fine fell short of the record 3mn euros handed down to Montpellier in 2020.

Following a hearing on May 26, Toulouse were found guilty of exceeding the cap in three of the last four seasons - 2021–2022 and then the title-winning years of 2022–2023 and 2024–2025. 

They were also hit for "breaches of the general obligation of transparency and cooperation" from 2021 to 2025.

The club has seven days to file an appeal, the LNR noted.

The breaches include image rights contracts between France back-rower Anthony Jelonch and a club sponsor, the airport services company 3S-Alyzia. This is prohibited, according to information revealed earlier this year by French sports newspaper L’Equipe.

Another violation concerns French championship bonuses to four players, which could not be excluded from the salary cap base because they were agreed between the club and the players after the final.

The salary cap disciplinary committee fined Toulouse 1.83mn euros for exceeding the cap.

An additional 1mn euros was imposed for the transparency breaches, and another 50,000 euros as the revocation of a previously suspended sentence.

In recent years, Toulouse received a suspended fine following the departure of Springboks winger Cheslin Kolbe to Toulon and, in 2025, paid 1.3 million euros to settle proceedings surrounding the transfer of international fullback Melvyn Jaminet from Perpignan.

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© Agence France-Presse