French football boycott called off

Matches in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 will go ahead as scheduled later this month after the clubs in the top two divisions in France agreed to postpone their boycott.

The Union of Professional Football Clubs (UCPF) has been planning to boycott the round of matches for November 29 through to December 2 to protest against the government's proposal to tax any footballer earning over €1m (£0.84m) at 75%.

The UCPF executive committee voted on Thursday not to postpone the round of matches but said that the games could still be called off at a later date if discussions with the government fail to materialise into any concrete.

"Last night we had a constructive discussion with [mediator] Jean Glavany," The AP quotes UCPF president Jean-Pierre Louvel as saying.

"Given the current context it's important that talks take place in the greater interest of football and solidarity.

"It would be a dramatic failure for French football, and therefore for sport, and we don't want to envisage that."

France President Francois Hollande has insisted that he will not change the rules on taxation for footballers, claiming that "the law must be the same for all".