This month, the English Premier League, Italian Serie A and Spanish La Liga are all scheduled to resume competition, following in the footsteps of Germany's Bundesliga.

"Football is coming back!" declared Oliver Dowden, the UK's secretary for digital, culture, media and sport, at a recent press briefing.

In May, the German Bundesliga led by example with its exhaustive heath guidelines, becoming the first of the major European football leagues to begin again after sports around the world shutdown in mid-March due to the spreading COVID-19 pandemic.

However, amid all the positive developments, the French topflight is conspicuous by its absence. France's Ligue 1 is the only one of Europe's top five major leagues to cancel its season because of the coronavirus crisis. President of Lyon's Olympique Lyonnais club Jean-Michel Aulas, who has been one of the most outspoken critics of the authority, has decided to seek justice.

On Thursday, the 71-year-old officially asked the Council of State, France's highest administrative court, to overrule Ligue 1's decision to terminate the current campaign.

"It was absurd to call the league off while other leagues reserved the right not to. Germany is already playing again, Spain will next week," Aulas fumed at the hearing. "It's the league which took the decision and can take the decision to resume... I'm shocked that we're here debating whether we can play or not."

Aulas revealed that he has had talks with the European Clubs Association and that "the procedure proposed by UEFA is the one that we can follow today: Return to training now and play the matches in 3 or 4 weeks."

Last week, Aulas wrote a letter to French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe making the point that nothing had obliged the French government to make their decision curtailing the season so quickly, and that UEFA had not put pressure on national associations to set a deadline for the end of competitions.

Lyon sat seventh on the table when the season was cut short on April 28, which means that they have failed to qualify for Europe for the first time in 23 years. Aulas insisted that the club will sue the French state for 800 million euros (906 million U.S. dollars) of potential financial damage should the court reject their plea.

The judge said the verdict will be delivered either on Monday or Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid star Diego Costa made an appearance at court on Thursday as he pleaded guilty to tax fraud.

According to a court filing, the Spanish striker is accused of defrauding the state of more than 1 million euros (1.1 million U.S. dollars) by not declaring payments of more than 5.15 million euros (5.83 million U.S. dollars) following his move from Chelsea in 2014.

In Spain, sentences below two years for non-violent crimes can be exchanged for a fine, and he will not serve jail time after agreeing to pay an additional fine of 36,500 euros (41,345 U.S. dollars).

"Diego Costa reached an agreement a few months ago with the prosecutor and has already paid the corresponding fine plus interest, and the request for a prison sentence was withdrawn," an Atletico spokesman told the Reuters news agency.

Costa is one of several football big names convicted of tax evasion by the Spanish authorities. Five-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi, Juventus talisman Cristiano Ronaldo and Spurs manager Jose Mourinho have all fallen foul of Spanish tax laws in recent years and paid hefty fines.

(Cover image: Lyon President Jean-Michel Aulas has demanded the Ligue 1 season cancellation be reversed. /VCG)