Marseille - Nice defender Souleymane Diawara, held in custody for two-and-a-half months over an extortion investigation, was released on bail on Friday by a court in Digne.
The four other people implicated in the case, including Diawara's brother, Adama, were also freed.
Diawara was arrested on April 10 on suspicion of trying to take the law into his own hands in March by attempting to recover €49 800 from a car dealer who had allegedly sold him a stolen Porsche.
Police sources say Diawara, a 36-year-old former French title winner with Bordeaux and Marseille, bought the Porsche Cayenne for €49 800 in cash in 2013.
However, when he discovered it had been a stolen vehicle, Diawara and the four others visited the seller's home in the middle of the night on March 19 to get the money back.
They all insisted that no weapons had been used and that nobody had been hurt in the altercation.
An appeal court in the French city of Aix-en-Provence twice rejected a request by the defendants to be released.