Sion lose Uefa fight (still time for another appeal, though)

FC SION lost their lengthy legal fight with Uefa yesterday, failing to win reinstatement to the Europa League in a player eligibility dispute which had threatened football’s legal structures.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld Uefa’s right to kick Sion out of the competition because the Swiss club fielded ineligible players in their play-off victory over Celtic.

With its verdict, the court also protected Uefa and Fifa, who had warned of legal anarchy if Sion won its case. “This respect of the rules has to be applied at all levels: of players, clubs, leagues, and in all competitions, in order to preserve what football stands for,” Uefa said in a statement.

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The court said the decision was “rendered unanimously by the three Swiss arbitrators comprising the arbitral panel in this case”.

CAS ordered Sion to pay Uefa 40,000 Swiss francs (£27,100) for legal costs.

The verdict was delivered less than 24 hours before Uefa conducts the draw for the round of 32. Had it lost the case, Uefa faced a tricky dilemma to restore Sion halfway through the competition. CAS said it would publish reasons for its ruling “within the next weeks”. Sion then have 30 days to appeal at Switzerland’s supreme court, which can overturn verdicts in a process typically lasting several months if legal process was abused.

“The club will soon go to the Swiss Federal Tribunal,” Sion said in a statement. “The CAS does not offer any guarantee of independence – in particular, how it chooses arbitrators – and violates several standards of national and international law.”

Sion had challenged Uefa’s decision to award Celtic 3-0 wins by default for both legs of a play-off in August. Sion had won 3-1 on aggregate using five players signed in breach of a Fifa transfer ban. The dispute dates from 2008, when Sion broke Fifa transfer rules by luring goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary to break his contract with Egyptian club Al-Ahly. Fifa banned Sion from registering new players for two official trading periods spanning one year.

The legality of the sanction was upheld despite Sion appeals to Fifa, CAS and then the supreme court, which ruled in January. The sanction then took effect, but Sion defied it in the off-season and signed six new players – Pascal Feindouno, Mario Mutsch, Gabri, former Hearts player Jose Goncalves, Stefan Glarner and Billy Ketkeophomphone – arguing that the ban had been served.

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