Football: Saint-Etienne women lose appeal against missing promotion by 0.04 points
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The French Football Federation determined the final places by dividing points by matches played.
PHOTO: AS SAINT-ETIENNE/FACEBOOK
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SAINT-ÉTIENNE, France (AFP) - Saint-Etienne's women's football team on Monday (Aug 17) lost their appeal after missing out on promotion to the French first division by 0.04 of a point.
Saint-Etienne were running neck and neck with Le Havre until their match against Yzeure on March 1 was called off because of an unplayable pitch.
That left Saint-Etienne, unbeaten after 15 matches and with a slightly better goal difference, three points behind Le Havre, who had played one more game, after what turned out to be the last round of the matches.
After bringing the season to an end because of the coronavirus pandemic, the French Football Federation determined the final places by dividing points by matches played.
Saint-Etienne, with 37 points from 15 matches, ended up with an average of 2.46 points per game while Le Havre, with 40 from 16 games, averaged 2.5. Saint-Etienne complained of "injustice", but the Paris administrative court said on Monday that "none of the arguments raised by AS Saint-Etienne is such as to give rise to serious doubt as to the legality of the contested decision".
Saint-Etienne can appeal.
