Montpellier players facing 'overweight fines'

Montpellier HSC head coach Frederic Hantz has revealed that his players will be fined for every gram of weight that they put on over the Ligue 1 winter break.

The former French champions finished 2016 with a 1-0 defeat to Nantes on Wednesday, which left the club in 11th position in France's top flight entering the mid-season break.

Hantz has warned his players about overindulging during the festive period, however, claiming that there will be a fine of "one Euro per gram" of weight that is gained ahead of the second half of the campaign.

"The players were weighed before the break and will be fined €1 (85p) for every gram they have put on upon their return," he told the Herault edition of France Bleu radio.

"One Euro per gram may not seem like a lot, but if one player puts on a kilogram, that's a thousand grams. I would be very careful. The fine might seem ridiculous but it could rise very quickly."

Montpellier, who famously won the Ligue 1 title in 2012, return to competitive action with a trip to Lyon in the Coupe de France on January 8.