DOUBTS over Celtic’s participation in the Europa League group stages next week were all but dispelled last night when the president of Swiss side Sion admitted that his club is unlikely to be reinstated ahead of the opening match of the group stages.
The Swiss club’s place in the group stage of the competition was handed by Uefa to play-off opponents Celtic after ineligible players featured in their tie last month, which Sion won 3-1 on aggregate. Sion vowed to have the decision overturned, but they were dealt a double legal blow yesterday when they failed in a bid to initiate two court proceedings in Switzerland.
However, the club’s irrepressible president, Christian Constantin says they will continue the fight to be reinstated in the Europa League, and even raised the prospect of the Europa League being suspended. The group stage starts next Thursday, with Celtic scheduled to play Atletico Madrid in Spain.
The Parkhead club, who have already started selling tickets for their Europa League fixtures, also face Group I clashes with Udinese and Rennes. However Constantin is determined to cause as much trouble as possible for Uefa. Sion had until 11pm last night to appeal the decision to expel the club. But the club could also take their case to the Court of Arbitration in Sport and Constantin would not rule out further legal challenges.
“It’s not finished,” said Constantin. “We might not make it to Madrid but perhaps, after that, the justice system might ask the competition to stop and allow our re-integration. You can start the competition and then a judge might say stop.”
Sion will need to find a different court to those which heard cases brought by the club and individual players yesterday. Sion brought proceedings against Uefa in their district court in Valais. However, the court deemed their application “inadmissible” as it does not have the jurisdiction to rule against European football’s governing body, with the organisation’s Nyon headquarters residing in the canton of Vaud.
Constantin revealed that a second case, brought by the six ineligible players, had also failed. Pascal Feindouno, Gabri, Mario Mutsch, Jose Goncalves, Stefan Glarner and Billy Ketkeophomphone launched a collective proceeding in Martigny, claiming that their trade was being restricted by Uefa’s decision to expel Sion.
The dispute dates back to February 2008 when Sion unveilled Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary as their new signing. However, his former club Al Ahly maintained he was still under contract to them. Uefa found in favour of the Egyptian club and imposed a transfer embargo on Sion. The Swiss club claimed the ban expired this summer and won a court case in Switzerland to allow them to field six new players in their domestic league. Fifa statutes ban clubs and federations from taking sporting cases to civil courts.
