By David Gold
September 2 – Celtic will take their place in the hardest group of the Europa League after their qualifying round opponents FC Sion were thrown out for flouting a FIFA ban on transfers.
Sion had been in dispute with FIFA over six players they signed this summer, which the world’s governing body deemed contravened a transfer ban imposed on them for two windows.
Nonetheless, Sion played the players they bought during the window, and indeed one of them, Pascal Feindouno, scored against Celtic as the Swiss side secured their passage to the group stage.
Sion believe that the ban imposed on them by FIFA for signing Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary in 2008 has already been served.
Celtic insisted they would protest to UEFA over the fielding of the players after the second leg defeat.
UEFA ruled that five players had played who were ineligible, with Feindouno, Gabri, Mario Mutsch, Jose Goncalves and Billy Ketkeophomphone all taking part over the course of the two legs, which Sion won 3-1 on aggregate.
But Celtic will face an uphill challenge to qualify from Group I for the knock out phase as they will face Spanish side Atlético Madrid, though they are now without Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan, both sold during the transfer window, but they did sign Colombian forward Falcao (pictured) from Porto, last season’s top scorer in the competition.
They will also face Francesco Guidolin’s Udinese, who were knocked out by Arsenal in qualifying for the Champions League, and French side Stade Rennes, who finished fifth in Ligue 1 last season and have made an bright start to the new campaign, which means Celtic will do well to even avoid finishing bottom of the group.
Sion can appeal within three days of the decision, but it seems unlikely they would succeed in doing so having been admonished publicly by Michel Platini last week for breaking the rules.
“What is happening there is the rules have not been respected,” said Platini.
“FC Sion has not respected the rules of the transfer ban – they signed players and then played those players.”
The Swiss side had previously threatened to boycott away games in their domestic league in response to the ban, and may yet take their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
They had won a court case in Switzerland allowing them to play the players earlier this season, but FIFA statutes say that Civil Court decisions have no bearing on their rulings.
Though the Swiss League had backed down on their tough stance against Sion following the ruling, they then withdrew their support for the club after FIFA insisted the ban remained, as international federations can be banned for failing to comply with their decisions.
In response to the decision, a Celtic spokesman said: “We have been advised by UEFA that the two protests relating to the matches against FC Sion have been upheld, as a result of which each match has been forfeited in favour of Celtic.
“We are pleased by this decision, the approach which has been taken by UEFA and the fact that UEFA rules and regulations have been upheld. We are also grateful for the support of the SFA in this matter.”
The decision saves Scottish embarrassment as all of their clubs seemed set to be out of Europe by the start of September for the first time since European competitions began.
Celtic’s first game will take place at the Vicente Calderón stadium in Madrid against Atlético on September 15.
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