Dubai: The UAE Football Association announced officially the nullity of Faisal Khalil's contract with French club Chateauroux.

"We have won the battle and Faisal Khalil is legally an Al Ahli player," said Yousuf Hussain the UAE FA tournaments committee head.

"On Monday we received a letter from Omar Ongaro head of players status committee in FIFA saying that as far as he is concerned, the player is eligible to play with Al Ahli. We are very happy that our efforts have paid off and Faisal stayed with his club."

Counsellor Mohammad Al Kamaly of the Dubai Sport Council (DSC) and lawyer of the player said that Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the President of the DSC and the Al Ahli club, was behind the return of Faisal to his club.

"The turning point was when Faisal returned to the UAE to play with the national team. Faisal met with Shaikh Hamdan and requested to save him from the fake professional contract he signed in France," said Al Kamaly.

Al Kamaly added that Shaikh Hamdan instructed them to follow the case on a legal basis.

"We assigned two law offices in France and Switzerland to follow the case and follow up all investigations about the contract and the signing of Faisal to the French club."

The player's lawyer said that they lodged a legal action against the French club at the French court because they refused to present the documents of Khalil's contract to them.

"The contract signed by Faisal was illegal according to the French law for many reasons.

"Firstly Faisal was on a visit visa for holidays. Secondly, to sign an employment contract in France has many conditions but Faisal didn't have any of them.

"We also got other documents from the French tax department and Interior Ministry which Faisal's contract was violating it. We filed all these violations to the UAE FA who sent it to Fifa."

Al Kamaly said that Fifa warned Chateauroux to solve the case in 10 days. "Fifa officials asked an authorised member in the French Football Federation to put an end to the matter. They agreed to release him in return for dropping any legal action against them and we agreed."

Al Kamaly denied Al Ahli paid a lot of money to Chateauroux to release Faisal. "We didn't pay them anything. We told them if there were any expenses for Faisal during his short stay we would pay for that." Fifa are aware of all the violations committed by the French club and they have decided the signing was illegal and assured Faisal is a player of Al Ahli.