Uefa seeks Sion solution

UEFA will sit down tomorrow with Celtic and their three Europa League rivals to discuss various plans to minimise disruption to their campaign so far, if it is forced to reinstate FC Sion into the competition.

Michel Platini was quizzed by Swiss court officials yesterday over why Uefa has not yet implemented a ruling ordering Sion’s reinstatement. The Uefa president spent around two hours at the prosecutor’s office in Vaud. He was followed by general secretary Gianni Infantino.

“The president is really happy to have answered questions from the prosecutor as a witness,” said Uefa spokesman Alexandre Fourtoy. “We will not further comment so that justice can gather all the information and draw its conclusion.”

Uefa wants the case to be taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and said it would reintegrate Sion if the Swiss club won the case there. It added that the other clubs in the group should be considered as interested parties. Uefa added: “Uefa has already organised a meeting with the four clubs involved on Friday to discuss the various scenarios . . . should FC Sion win the case on the merits at the CAS.”

Sion were kicked out of the Europa League by Uefa for fielding ineligible players in their play-off tie against Celtic in August. They lost an appeal to Uefa against the decision but, defying Fifa and Uefa rules which ban clubs from taking their cases outside sporting tribunals, won an injunction in their favour at a Swiss court.

On Monday, Uefa sent the court a document suggesting ways in which Sion could be integrated into Group I of the competition, where Celtic took Sion’s place alongside Atletico Madrid, Rennes and Udinese. All of them would involve disruption to the tournament with extra fixtures as Celtic would keep their place.

One possibility would involve cancelling all the matches played so far in the group, which could seriously discredit the competition.