A FOOTBALL team are battling to stop one of their players from being deported.

Marske United, in east Cleveland, are worried that former professional footballer Ballo Ousimaine, 22, could be put on a plane back to his native Ivory Coast after losing his application for asylum.

The Arngrove Northern League club has launched petitions, written and appealed in person to Home Office officials and Teesside MPs.

Middlesbrough striker Joseph Job and former Boro full-back Gordon Jones have joined appeals for Mr Ousimaine to remain in the UK.

Mr Ousimaine, who played professional football on the Ivory Coast, claims to have had members of his family killed in the civil war, which erupted in 2002 between the rebel-held north and government-controlled south.

Club chairman John Hodgson said: "He is out of his head with worry. If he thought he had a future in going back, he would have gone back by now. We thought the authorities were going to snatch him last week when he was told to report to the police station at South Bank, on Monday.''

Because Mr Ousimaine is officially not supposed to be in the UK, he is forbidden to play in front of a paying crowd, and can only appear in friendlies.

Mr Hodgson said Marske, the club and the youngsters of the area had taken Mr Ousimaine to their hearts.

Club sponsor Peter Collinson has found him accommodation, and club members would give him work.

Mr Hodgson said: "We just seem to be banging our heads against a brick wall. We could get him a job, we would look after him. He would not be scrounging off the state. Everyone likes him. He is a lovely lad and always immaculately dressed.''

It is understood the Home Office has found inconsistencies in Mr Ousimaine's account of his flight from terror.