Sion confirm appeal to Uefa and in Swiss court

Sion have vowed to fight their Europa League expulsion with an appeal to Uefa and Swiss civil court action after describing the decision as “pure revenge” against controversial president Christian Constantin.

Sion yesterday revealed they had launched an appeal to Uefa, although the European governing body have yet to receive it.

Protests from Celtic over Sion playing ineligible players in the Swiss side’s 3-1 aggregate were upheld on Friday and Celtic were reinstated at Sion’s expense, but uncertainty remains over who, if anyone, will face Atletico Madrid on 15 September.

In a statement issued yesterday, a Sion spokesman said: “FC Sion yesterday received 12 pages of confused explanations for the acceptance of the protest. For us, it’s a pure revenge against our president.

“FC Sion officially appealed to Uefa on Monday, in order to obtain the cancellation of the protest.”

Sion were handed a transfer embargo for breaching rules over the signing of Egypt goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary three years ago but the club and Fifa have different interpretations over the length of the ban.

Sion have already won a civil court ruling over the issue, which prompted their domestic football authorities to allow them to field the five affected players. And the club are adamant Uefa gave them the green light to play them.

The players include former Hearts defender Jose Goncalves and midfielder Pascal Feindouno, who scored two goals as Sion beat Celtic 3-1 in Switzerland following a goalless first leg.