Sion lose state court battle against FIFA and UEFA

By David Gold

November 18 – FC Sion’s battle with FIFA and UEFA suffered a major blow today when a state court in Switzerland ruled in favour of world football’s governing body over six players they had alleged the club had signed in contravention of a transfer ban.

Pascal Feindouno, Gabri, Mario Mutsch, Billy Ketkeophomphone, Stefan Glarner and José Gonçalves were all signed this summer by the Swiss club, who have taken on not just UEFA and FIFA, but the Swiss League itself.

The dispute relates to a transfer ban imposed for the signing of Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary in 2008, which FIFA ruled was illegal, and banned the club from buying players for two transfer windows.

FIFA said that this ban was still in force this summer, something the club deny, and having signed the six players, took their case to a civil court in August, forcing the Swiss League to allow them to field the players in domestic games.

League President Thomas Grimm told The Associated Press that the ruling was a “victory for not only the league, but FIFA and UEFA also.

“The court has decided to reject the provisional measures which allowed the players to play.

“It is a confirmation of our opinion that we should be very strong in this case.”

FIFA also said that the decision overturned the previous outcome, which had gone in the club’s favour, “in its entirety”, and UEFA will also be boosted by the news ahead of their hearing with the club at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) this week.

Sion’s lawyer, Alexandre Zen-Ruffinen (pictured), admitted that the ruling “was not good, not good at all.”

Sion want to be reinstated into the Europa League, after being kicked out for playing five of the players in a qualifying tie against Celtic, which they had originally won.

The club won an injunction at a civil court in the Canton of Vaud, ordering UEFA to reinstate them into the competition, but the organisation instead took the case to CAS, and drew up contingency plans in case they were defeated for ways in which to restore the Swiss side to the Europa League.

The CAS decision will determine whether UEFA are forced to allow them back into the competition or not, but after today’s ruling, the club are facing the prospect not just of failing to win that case, but also of being docked points in the domestic league, where they currently lie third, having played a number of the players signed in contravention of the ban so far this season.

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