Police detain goalkeeper in French passports scam

Levytsky's teammate - Brazilian forward Alex, who had also been summoned to attend the meeting and explain his own passport situation - did not appear and was believed to be in South America. Both players were suspended in December and were told they would have to answer to the league's ethics commission after officials at Toulouse noticed their nationalities had been changed on a teamsheet before a recent match.

Alex, having earlier been accorded Portuguese papers, had reverted to being Brazilian, while Levytsky, who is set for a move to Spartak Moscow, appeared on the sheet as a Greek. The president of the ethics commission, Jean-Pierre Camus, said the league had decided to reconvene January 16, when it was expected Alex would appear. "Since their cases are inextricably linked, we will defer our decision and have called on the Brazilian to appear on January 16," Camus said.

(dpa)