UEFA were entitled to expel Sion from the Europa League, explain CAS

By David Gold

February 1 – The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has published the reasons why it ruled in favour of UEFA in their battle with Swiss side FC Sion over their expulsion from the Europa League in December.

The club were kicked out of the competition after fielding five ineligible players during a qualifying tie with Celtic, but had taken their case to civil courts in Switzerland, the home of both UEFA and FIFA, in an attempt to force football’s European and global governing bodies to back down.

CAS today said that UEFA was entitled to rule that the players fielded in the qualifier were ineligible, and added that European football’s governing body “must be in [a] position to ensure the uniform application of its regulations…in order to guarantee the equality between all clubs participating in its competitions”.

CAS also lifted a ruling made by the Canton of Vaud, home of UEFA, which said that Group I of the Europa League – in which Celtic competed – was invalid if Sion did not participate, justifying this by saying the Canton had recognised their jurisdiction over the issue.

FIFA had ordered Sion to serve a transfer ban following the controversial signing of goalkeeper Essam El Hadary in 2008, and ruled that the signing of six players this summer contravened the embargo.

When Sion started fielding players in Swiss League games, FIFA began to flex its muscles and pressure the Swiss Football Association (SFV) to take action.

After threatening to kick Switzerland out of international football in December if appropriate action was not taken, Sion were docked 36 points by the SFV.

That leaves them on minus five points, but they are only second bottom as Neuchâtel Xamax, a club which FIFA President Sepp Blatter used to be a director of, were stripped of their playing license and excluded from the league.

Sion’s official website puts them third in the Swiss table with the 31 points they had prior to the SFV punishment, but they have publicly insisted, even after the CAS ruling, that they would continue to fight their corner.

FC Sion, who were appealing the CAS ruling in a civil court today, attacked the release of the explanation, telling insideworldfootball that it was a strategy “designed to break our offensive”.

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