Arnhem football club Vitesse have won the next round of their legal battle to keep their professional licence after appeal court judges said the decision by the Dutch football association KNVB should be withdrawn.

“The court has suspended the decisions of the KNVB’s licensing committee and appeals committee to withdraw Vitesse’s professional licence and ordered the KNVB to readmit Vitesse immediately to the professional football competition,” the ruling said.

Judges at an emergency hearing last month ruled the club could be suspended after what the KNVB called a “multi-year pattern of deception, evasion, and undermining of the licensing system” that was “structural, serious and persistent.”

However, the appeals court said it considered it likely that the decisions would not stand when the main case is heard. “This is because they were taken under great time pressure and therefore not with the highest possible degree of care,” the court said.

This caution is needed because the sanction is “the most far-reaching it could be for a professional football club.”

The ruling means Vitesse can return to the first division competition, which has already completed four rounds. Since the earlier decision, the main squad has been largely dismantled, with players moving on free transfers to other clubs.

“This ruling gives us breathing space and perspective,” said Michel Schaay, chairman of the club’s new investors group, on the Vitesse website.