Goalkeeper Fabien Barthez will make his comeback for Olympique Marseille on Saturday after France's football authorities gave the green light to his loan signing from Manchester United.

"The contract has been validated today by the French league. The French Federation has received all the official documents from the English Federation," Olympique Marseille said in a statement on Friday.

"Fabien will be able to make his comeback on Saturday at the Stade Velodrome for our French Cup first round match against Strasbourg."

A 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 winner, Barthez won the 1993 European Cup with Marseille in the first of his three seasons at the club.

He left for a five-year spell at Monaco before moving to Old Trafford in 2000 for a world record fee for a goalkeeper of 7.8 million pounds.

The 32-year-old has won two league titles with United but was dropped by manager Alex Ferguson at the tail-end of last season.

Ligue 1 club Marseille and United reached agreement on a nine-month loan transfer in October but FIFA blocked the move because it had not been registered during the transfer window.

An appeal by the French club was turned down and Barthez, desperate to play first-team soccer to remain as France's first-choice keeper for the Euro 2004, had to resign himself to wait until January's winter transfer window.