FRENCH Cup winner Rasmus Nicolaisen was dropped by his club Toulouse – after reportedly running up £90,000 GAMBLING DEBTS with his team-mates.
And the Danish defender has previous history with betting problems, after being fined by the FA during his Portsmouth spell two seasons ago.
GettyRasmus Nicolaisen caused a rift in the Toulouse dressing room after racking up debts £90,000[/caption]
GettyThe 26-year-old was dropped for one game while the issue was resolved[/caption]
Nicolaisen was ordered to pay £2,500 after being found guilty of making 53 football-related bets while on loan at Fratton Park.
The 26-year-old joined Toulouse in 2021, and won the Ligue 2 title with them last year.
He has made 37 appearances this season to help the south-western club comfortably settle in France’s top flight.
And the centre-back played in Toulouse’s 5-1 Coupe de France final win over Nantes three weeks ago.
However, multiple reports in France and Denmark reveal Nicolaisen borrowed a total of 100,000 euros from half a dozen of his clubmates to gamble online.
And tensions reportedly reached boiling point in the Violets dressing-room when the Dane failed to repay his debts.
Senior players are said to have voiced their concerns to Toulouse president Damien Comolli, threatening the former Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool official with strike action.
And club coach Philippe Montanier dropped Nicolaisen for the April 14 clash with Lyon, claiming he was injured. Toulouse lost 2-1.
Since the incident, he has played in three of the last four games for the French outfit.
Club chiefs later granted the defender a salary advance so he could refund his team-mates.
Nicolaisen and his agent Jens Orgaard did not initially reply to media enquiries.
The revelations emerged just a day after Brentford striker Ivan Toney landed an eight-month football ban for breaking FA betting rules.
The England international was also fined £50,000 after he admitted 232 rule breaches.
Nicolaisen made 27 Portsmouth appearances, scoring once, while on loan from Midtjylland during 2020-21.
The FA enquiry found he had not placed any bets on Pompey’s games, and had been unaware of the difference in gambling rules between Danish and English football.