Celtic could land a £4m bonus after Sion ejected

CELTIC were last night handed a Europa League reprieve which could earn them around £4 million after they were reinstated in the tournament at the expense of Sion.

Uefa’s Control and Disciplinary Body took less than an hour to uphold Celtic’s protests against the Swiss club for fielding ineligible players in last month’s play-off round tie which the Scottish Cup holders lost 3-1 on aggregate.

Celtic are now scheduled to take Sion’s place in the group stage alongside commercially attractive Spanish, Italian and French opposition in the shape of Atletico Madrid, Udinese and Rennes respectively.

Sion, however, will exercise their right to appeal the decision. They can do so within three days of receiving the written judgment from Uefa which will be delivered to them on Monday.

Christian Constantin, the Sion president, has also stated his intention to pursue the matter through the civil courts if necessary. Uefa’s own Appeals Body would hear their initial appeal with Sion having further recourse to take their case to the Court of Arbitration in Sport. The Europa League group stage is due to start on 15 September, with Celtic’s first fixture away to Atletico Madrid.

“We have not lost anything at all yet,” claimed Constantin last night. “We have been part of a truncated process today of which outcome was certain in advance. That is typically the method of Uefa. But next week, we will go to seize civil justice to invalidate this judgment.”

Celtic last night expressed their satisfaction with the news from Uefa headquarters in Nyon and paid tribute to the SFA for the assistance they provided in processing their complaint against Sion.

“We have been advised by Uefa that the two protests relating to the matches against FC Sion have been upheld,” said a Celtic spokesman. “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.”

Uefa’s forfeit regulation means Celtic have been handed nominal 3-0 victories for both legs of the tie against Sion. They will also count towards Scotland’s Uefa co-efficient ranking which had sustained serious damage with all of the country’s clubs being eliminated from Europe before the end of August for the first time.

Celtic will gratefully accept their stay of execution as they benefit from the continuing fall-out of the transfer embargo imposed on Sion by Fifa two years ago for inducing Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary to break his contract with Al-Ahly and sign for them.

Sion had claimed the signing ban expired this summer, winning a court case in Switzerland to allow them to field six new players in their domestic league. They also registered them in their Europa League squad and played five of them – Pascal Feindouno, Gabri, Mario Mutsch, Jose Goncalves and Billy Ketkeophomphone – over the two games against Celtic. Feindouno scored twice in Sion’s 3-1 second-leg win.

Laurent Roussey, the Sion coach, last night criticised Uefa’s decision and insisted his team deserve to remain in the tournament. “I am surprised that an authority such as Uefa can make such a ruling,” he said. “Why not take this decision earlier if they believed we were not right to have our players in the competition? I await their written response but this decision is heartbreaking for me. As a coach, I feel as if Uefa have stolen something from me which I achieved on the field of play.”