Hearts may have been offered some hope in their bid to beat the drop after the French courts blocked relegation from from Ligue 1.
The Ligue de Football Professionel [LFP], like the SPFL, ended their season early and imposed relegation on those clubs occupying the drop zone at the time of the decision.
But Toulouse and Amiens appealed to the national court, who have now blocked the decision.
The 2019/20 season won’t resume, so now the LFP must reconsider how they format Ligue 1 for the 2020/21 campaign.
No decision has been taken on how exactly that will look, but French state council has recommended that the size of the league be increased.
The news will no doubt be noted by Hearts and Ann Budge.
Her league reconstruction proposal has been looked at by all 42 SPFL clubs, but is understood not have persuaded enough of them to vote it through.
That leaves the Tynecastle club facing at least a season in the Championship after they were demoted despite not being able to finish the season.
Budge has already confirmed she plans to challenge that decision legally, and the outcome of the similar challenge in France could strengthen her case.
It could also provide a real headache for Neil Doncaster and the SPFL board, who are keen to find a solution to the question of league reconstruction one way or another in order to draw up a fixture list in time for the planned Premiership kick-off on August 1.
But that could be thrown into disarray if Hearts go down the legal route are are ultimately successful.
Warnings were issued that clubs under the UEFA banner faced the prospect of being booted out of their leagues if they appealed to the national courts rather than the Court of Arbitration for Sport [CAS] but that hasn’t deterred those in France so.
SPFL clubs have until 5pm today to email their positions on Budge’s reconstruction proposal.
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