Sochaux have announced they will ask to be reinstated in Ligue 1 after they feel they were treated unfairly by French football authorities.
Relegated after finishing 18th in the top flight last season, Sochaux were the likely beneficiaries if Lens did not win their battle to have their promotion as the 2013/14 Ligue 2 runners-up validated.
Having twice seen their arguments rejected by the DNCG, the body which oversees the financial well-being of clubs, due to a shortfall in their budget, Lens were eventually successful.
However, they were told by the DNCG on Tuesday they could not bring in any summer recruits until owner Hafiz Mammadov provided four million euros to bolster his club's budget for the coming campaign.
Sochaux responded on Wednesday with a statement published on their official website arguing that they had had their budget quickly ratified by the DNCG, and claiming that with Lens having failed to meet regulations, the French Football Federation (FFF) and the French Football League (LFP) should replace the northern club with themselves ahead of the Ligue 1 season kick-off on Friday.
"We consider that the fundamental principle of fairness has not been respected. This endless procedure and these decisions cause FCSM grave prejudice in the sense that fairness and the rules of economic regulation have been blurred," said the club, which actually fulfilled its opening Ligue 2 fixture last Saturday, losing 1-0 at home to Orleans.
"FC Sochaux-Montbeliard will not submit passively to the consequences of this decision and asks the FFF and the LFP to urgently reexamine the whole of this dossier in order that the fundamental rules be respected.
"Consequently, we ask for FCSM to be reintegrated into Ligue 1."