BRUSSELS: Money from former players
Marouane Fellaini
and
Axel Witsel
has helped save
Standard Liege
from expulsion from Belgium's top flight after they successfully appealed the withdrawal of their professional licence.
Former Manchester United and Everton midfielder Fellaini, now playing in China, has loaned the club 3-million euros ($3.24 million) while
Borussia Dortmund
’s Witsel has invested in a company that has bought the club’s stadium and will rent it back to them, Belgian media reported.
The Belgian football association last month withdrew Standard’s license amid mounting debts, effectively relegating the club to the fourth tier of Belgian football.
However, an appeal to the country's sports arbitration court proved successful, club spokesman Olivier Smeets told reporters on Wednesday.
Standard, who finished third behind Arsenal and
Eintracht Frankfurt
in their
Europa League
group this season, were in fifth place in the Belgian league when it was suspended in March.
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