Sawt Falasteen - French Top 14 champions Toulouse fined for salary cap breaches

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.

"The club takes note of this decision and of the sanctions which, although far below those the league had requested, nonetheless seem highly unfair and incomprehensible," Toulouse said in a brief statement sent to AFP.

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 and said "the question of an appeal will be decided collectively at the beginning of next week".

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.

R.Shaban--SF-PST