Top sports court backs UEFA over Sion ban

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) yesterday upheld a decision by UEFA to refuse Sion re-entry to the Europa League after the Swiss club breached player recruitment rules.

Sion had lodged several appeals with Swiss courts after being thrown out of the competition, with Scottish club Celtic taking their place.

CAS said in a statement FC Sion “must now pay damages of 40,000 Swiss francs (€32,600) to UEFA” which will cover the body’s legal costs.

A statement from CAS read: “The CAS first decided that it had jurisdiction to rule on the request for arbitration filed by UEFA on 26 September 2011.

“It then decided to confirm that OLA (Sion) should not be reintegrated in the UEFA Europa League 2011/2012, confirming indirectly the validity of the decision of the UEFA Appeals Body of 13 September 2011.”

FC Sion were thrown out of the Europa League on September 2 after being found guilty of fielding ineligible players, with Celtic handed their place in the group stages despite losing the play-offs 3-1 on aggregate.

Five players declared ineligible were signed by Sion during a FIFA-imposed transfer embargo, but Sion argued they believed that sanction had expired.

The Swiss club had taken their case to several regional courts and a court in Martigny ruled in their favour, allowing the banned players to return.

FIFA appealed that decision in the Valais cantonal court, which in mid-November “overturned the decision” of the local courts, according to FIFA. The court instead “upheld the appeal submitted by FIFA and the Swiss Football League”.

In the end, UEFA said only a ruling by the Lausanne-based CAS would bring an end to the saga.