High-flying Brest faces Lyon with chance to move closer to first-ever Champions League spot

With the traditional powerhouses taking a rest, it's a mouthwatering contest between surprise package Brest and a resurgent Lyon side in the French league spotlight this weekend.

Following its dramatic 4-3 win against Metz last week, second-place Brest can edge even closer to qualifying for next season's Champions League for the first time in the history of the small club from Brittany, which has one of the league's smallest budgets.

“Brest second in the league with six rounds left to play, I don’t think you’d have put much money on it,” coach Eric Roy said. “Me neither.”

With Paris Saint-Germain, Marseille and Lille all engaged in European competitions this week, the league has modified their schedules to give them more time to recover before the second legs. PSG, which lost 3-2 to Barcelona on Wednesday in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals, was set to play at Lorient but the match was pushed back to April 24. Monaco vs. Lille and Marseille vs. Nice will take place on the same day.

Only PSG — which has a 10-point lead at the top of the table — has more wins than Roy’s side this season (18 against 15). It's a remarkable achievement for Brest, whose stadium holds 15,000 compares to PSG’s capacity of nearly 49,000 at Parc des Princes, while PSG’s annual budget of 700 million euros ($752 million) compares to Brest’s 48 million euros ($52 million).

The win against Metz equaled Brest's best-ever tally of victories in the league, achieved during the 1989-90 season. According to statistics from the French league, Brest needs only two points to beat the club's points record reached in 1986-87 after 38 top-tier matches.

Roy, who took over last season with the club fighting relegation, has built a team that defends extremely well but is also one of the most exciting sides to watch, with hard-working midfielder Pierre Lees-Melou and striker Romain Del Castillo praised for their decisive input.

Brest has lost just one of its last 17 league matches ahead of Sunday's trip to 10th-place Lyon, which has produced a remarkable turnaround under coach Pierre Sage following a catastrophic start to the season.

The seven-time French champions have won 10 of their last 14 league games and have qualified for the French Cup final against PSG on May 25.

Sage was initially hired as an interim coach but convinced his bosses he was the right man for the long term. Despite his lack of experience, he was given a chance to put the team back on track. Sage quickly created a positive dynamic within the team, helped by the club's savvy moves — including Gift Orban, Malick Fofana and Said Benrahma — during the winter transfer window.

Lyon spent an estimated 55 million euros ($59 million) during that window, with the arrival of experienced midfielder Nemanja Matic greatly improving the team's quality. Former Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette has rediscovered his scoring mojo and is the league's third best scorer, with 14 goals, behind Jonathan David and leader Kylian Mbappe.

Only six games will be played this weekend, with struggling Metz kicking off the 29th round against Lens on Friday.

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Lyon's Alexandre Lacazette, on the ground, and Reims' Emmanuel Agbadou, challenge for the ball during the French League One soccer match between Lyon and Reims at the Groupama stadium, outside Lyon, France, Saturday, March 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

FILE - Marseille's Iliman Ndiaye, center, makes his way between Brest's Mahdi Camara, right, and Brest's Pierre Lees-Melou, left, during the French League One soccer match between Marseille and Brest at the Velodrome stadium in Marseille, France, Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023. With the traditional powerwhouses taking a rest, it's a mouthwatering contest between surprise package Brest and a resugent Lyon side that takes the spotlight in the French league this weekend. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole, File)

Lyon's Ernest Nuamah, left, celebrates with team mate Said Benrahma, right, after scoring his side's first goal during the French League One soccer match between Lyon and Reims at the Groupama stadium, outside Lyon, France, Saturday, March 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Rennes' Romain Del Castillo, left, duels for the ball with Marseille's Duje Caleta-Car during the League One soccer match between Rennes and Marseille, at the Roazhon Park stadium in Rennes, France, Friday, Jan. 10, 2020. With the traditional powerwhouses taking a rest, it's a mouthwatering contest between surprise package Brest and a resugent Lyon side that takes the spotlight in the French league this weekend. (AP Photo/David Vincent)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Wednesday said it will cancel $6 billion in student loans for people who attended the Art Institutes, a system of for-profit colleges that closed the last of its campuses in 2023 amid accusations of fraud.

Saying the chain lured students with “pervasive” lies, the Education Department is invoking its power to cancel student loans for borrowers who were misled by their colleges.

“This institution falsified data, knowingly misled students, and cheated borrowers into taking on mountains of debt without leading to promising career prospects at the end of their studies,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.

The Education Department will automatically erase loans for 317,000 people who attended any Art Institute campus between Jan. 1, 2004, and Oct. 16, 2017.

In total, the Democratic administration says it has approved the cancellation of almost $160 billion in student loans through a variety of existing programs. Among that total, $28.7 billion has been canceled for those who were cheated by their colleges or went to campuses that suddenly closed.

The department says it's taking action after reviewing evidence from the attorneys general of Massachusetts, Iowa and Pennsylvania, which previously investigated complaints of fraud and sued the for-profit chain.

According to the department's findings, the chain misled students about the success of graduates and about employment partnerships that would help students find jobs.

The chain told prospective students that more than 80% of graduates found jobs in their fields of study, but that was largely based on doctored data, the Education Department said. The true employment rate was below 57%.

Campuses also advertised graduate salaries that were based on fabricated data and included extreme outliers to make averages look better, the department said.

One campus included the annual salary of tennis star Serena Williams to skew the average salary, investigators found. Williams studied fashion at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The chain's tactics led borrowers to borrow high amounts of debt for programs that didn't pay off, the department said.

“The Art Institutes preyed on the hopes of students attempting to better their lives through education,” said Richard Cordray, chief operating officer of the Education Department's Federal Student Aid office. “We cannot replace the time stolen from these students, but we can lift the burden of their debt."

On Wednesday, the Education Department will start emailing borrowers who will get their loans canceled. They won't need to take any action, and payments already made on the loans will be refunded.

At its height, the chain had dozens of campuses across the country, including in New York, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles. It was operated for decades by Education Management Corp., which collapsed in 2018 after years of legal trouble.

The company reached a $95.5 million settlement with the Justice Department in 2015 over allegations of illegal recruiting tactics. Soon after, it began closing campuses and later sold the remainder to another company.

The final eight campuses were shuttered last year.

The Biden administration has continued to cancel student loans through several existing programs even as it pursues a wider plan for one-time cancellation. That plan is a follow-up to one that the Supreme Court rejected last year.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

FILE - People walk past the Art Institute of Philadelphia operated by the Education Management Corporation on Nov. 16, 2015, in Philadelphia. The Biden administration on Wednesday said it will cancel $6 billion in student loans for people who attended the Art Institutes, a system of for-profit colleges that closed the last of its campuses in 2023 amid accusations of fraud. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)