Michel Platini hints that Sion will be thrown out of competition
CELTIC are today waiting for the call to replace FC Sion in the Europa League group stage after Michel Platini, the president of Uefa, insisted that the Swiss club are in breach of a UEFA and FIFA ruling which stated they were not allowed to field any of the six players they signed during the summer.
Uefa sources at yesterday’s group stage draw in Monaco suggested that Sion are already on their way out, just as they landed in Group I, with Atletico Madrid, Udinese and Rennes. Prior to the second leg with Sion on Thursday, Celtic submitted letters of complaint, after five players in the Swiss club’s squad that had been deemed ineligible for their Europa League qualifying matches. Celtic lost the tie 3-1 on aggregate. This disciplinary case will be heard at Uefa headquarters in Nyon on Tuesday.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport is also scheduled to give their verdict on Sion’s appeal against the ruling by Uefa and Fifa, which was given as the club are still subject to a transfer embargo.
Sion are basing their case on their interpretation of the timescale involved. Cristian Constantin, the club’s owner, has vowed to fight the ruling.
“This is a complaint of duress because they have no right to threaten FC Sion, saying that if we had a civil trial we risk being excluded,” he said. “ That is a constraint. I am ready for anything. I will fight because I can’t stand injustice and I defend my interests.
“I’m fighting against a totalitarian regime that wants to impose an injustice and that is why I attack the criminals, [Jerome] Valcke [FIFA general secretary] and [Gianni] Infantino [UEFA general secretary], for threats made.”
Uefa and Fifa have consistently stated that Sion have broken the rules, and Platini said: “What Sion did was not correct; the club did not follow the rules. There are going to be problems.”
Not least of those is that, should Sion be removed and Celtic invited to take their place, Group I would effectively have two teams from Pot 2. That is where Celtic would have placed them for the draw, had they gone through, while Sion’s were drawn from Pot 4.
If Neil Lennon’s side do take their place in the group, they will undoubtedly be in the toughest of the 12 sections: against Atletico, Udinese, who ran Arsenal very close in a Champions League play-off, and Rennes who defeated Red Star Belgrade 6-1 over two legs in the play-off round.
Infantino said last night: “Today, Sion is qualified and will participate in the draw. But tomorrow? We expect to receive Celtic’s appeal in what has been a long-running saga regarding Sion.
“The Disciplinary and Control body will decide on the issue before the group stages start. Sion has the right to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, who will settle the matter.”
Uefa have several sanctions open to them, and are also considering taking action against the Swiss FA who gave their approval for Sion to play their ineligible players in domestic matches after the club went to court in Switzerland to fight the ban.
“When you participate in a competition, you accept the rules,” said Infantino. “Nobody forces you to participate. If this matter is now so complex, it is because some people have done everything to make it as complex. In this case, the only winners are the lawyers.”
In a further twist last night, Servette Geneva announced that they intend to boycott their league fixture against Sion tomorrow because the club are still being permitted to field the players which the European authorities have deemed to be ineligible in league matches.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article