It took two weeks and a one-hour hearing. On Friday 7 August, the appeal committee of the French Rugby Federation (FFR) confirmed Nissa Rugby’s registration in Pro D2 for the 2026-2027 season. The Riviera club, promoted on the pitch at the end of May and then relegated on administrative grounds on 24 July, will play in the second division after all. And the sporting sanction that came with it has been slashed.

What the decision says

Nice’s directors were heard on Friday morning. The ruling came through in the afternoon. Three points stand out.

The club’s registration in Pro D2 is confirmed, closing the case opened on 24 July by the rugby regulatory authority, which had blocked promotion for lack of sufficient guarantees.

The five-point deduction handed down at first instance is revoked. It is replaced by a two-point deduction, suspended. In other words, Nice will start the season on zero rather than in negative figures, which changes everything for a promoted side.

Finally, Mont-de-Marsan are not reinstated. Stade Montois, beaten 31-26 by Nice in the promotion play-off on 31 May, will play in Nationale.

The 4.6 million has been lodged

This was the crux of the matter from the start. The A2R required around 4.6 million euros in guarantees to approve the registration. The investors put up 2.5 million through Sport Inside Europe, the majority shareholder. That left a gap of nearly two million, which the city council refused to fill, citing the stalled construction work on the stands at the Stade Marcel-Volot.

The missing guarantee was eventually provided. Local press on the Riviera attribute it to Jean-Baptiste Aldigé, the outgoing president, whose company is backed by investor Louis-Vincent Gave.

According to our information, the parallel talks with Nice city hall were particularly difficult, but they eventually succeeded and unlocked the required deposit. At the time of writing, neither the club, the city nor the shareholder has spoken publicly about the exact terms of the arrangement.

What the club avoids

The decision ends a sequence that threatened far more than a league position. Nissa Rugby means around 120 employees and 850 registered players. At the end of July, the fifty players in the squad had issued a statement expressing their fear of “having to tell our families that we have to leave, sometimes at short notice, sometimes without knowing where we will play tomorrow”.

Those were the contracts hanging on Friday morning’s hearing. As of today, forty-five players are registered in the Nice squad for the Pro D2 season about to begin.

Five hours after the decision, they play

This is the detail that best sums up how the club is getting through the summer. While the directors were defending their case, the players were at a training camp. And tonight, five hours after the Federation’s ruling, they play their first pre-season match.

Kick-off is at 7pm at the Stade Tropenas in Montélimar, a neutral venue halfway between the two, against SO Chambéry of Nationale. Gates open at 6pm, entry costs six euros, with a bar on site. Ordinary rugby, a few hours after a decision that put the club’s very existence on the line.

Nice therefore arrive in Pro D2 with a sporting record nobody has ever questioned, twenty-one wins from twenty-nine Nationale matches followed by a play-off won at Mont-de-Marsan, and with a pre-season that has not been sacrificed. The league resumes on 28 August.