A four-person panel on Tuesday started its review of Paris Saint-Germain's multimillion euro wages stand-off with former striker Kylian Mbappé who left the French champions for Real Madrid last summer.
The Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) – which runs the top two divisions in France – ordered PSG in September to pay Mbappé 55 million euros in salary and bonuses he claimed he was owed when he quit the French capital for one of the world's most prestigious clubs.
PSG appealed against the LFP's verdict and after Mbappé refused the LFP's offer to act as a mediator between the sides, another committee was set up to decide the row.
Two members from the UNFP – the French national players' union – as well as a magistrate and the committee's president, will confirm or overturn the LFP's order after hearings that are expected to last until Friday.
Mbappé, 25, joined PSG in July 2017 and seemed poised to join Madrid during the summer of 2022 as a free agent.
But the French President Emmanuel Macron encouraged him to stay at PSG and Mbappé stunned the Madrid hierarchy by signing a two-year deal in May 2022 with the option of a third year.
"I'm going to remain in my hometown and do what I like doing ... playing football and winning more trophies," said Mbappé as his contract extension was announced to a delirious horde of PSG fans before the game against Metz at the Parc des Princes.
Failure
But even with Neymar and Lionel Messi, PSG failed to make any inroads in the Champions League and the call of Madrid resurfaced.
In August 2023, Mbappé said he would not take up the contract's option of a further year and leave as a free agent in June 2024.
Outraged, the PSG hierarchy told new boss Luis Enrique to go on a tour of Japan and South Korea without their star striker. But Mbappé was eventually reintegrated into the first team squad and PSG swept the board domestically winning the French Super Cup, Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France.
PSG executives claim that under an agreement to return to the first team, Mbappé said he would waive 55 million euros in various bonuses and then leave for Madrid.
The sum Mbappé is claiming is comprised of the last third of a signing-on fee, of 36 million euros gross pay, which he was supposed to receive in February, as well as his last three months' salary from last season and an ethics bonus covering the same period.
During his seven years in the capital, Mbappé harvested 15 medals including six Ligue 1 titles.
He became PSG's record scorer with 256 goals in 308 games and the marksmanship helped him to a plethora of awards: he was named Ligue 1 Player of the Season a record five consecutive times and he claimed the Ligue 1 "Golden Boot" from 2019 to 2024.
