UEFA have shown that there is no middle ground by kicking Dinamo Zagreb out of the Youth League for fielding an ineligible player.
The Croatian side won the last 16 tie ‘on the pitch’ against Anderlecht but used substitute Matije Fintica for the last seven minutes despite the player being suspended for the match. Fintica had picked up three bookings earlier in the competition.
In a case very similar to the one that involved Legia Warsaw and Celtic in 2014, Croatia Zagreb have discovered that there is no margin for error with their 2-0 win replaced by a 3-0 defeat. Anderlecht will now host Barcelona with the winner going through to the last four of the Youth League.
Before UEFA delivered their verdict Dinamo issued a plea stating: “After Dinamo’s young players won against Anderlecht the Uefa delegate discovered the mistake made by Dinamo administration. Anderlecht decided not to appeal because the better team won and that is the point of sport, but despite that Uefa decided to open the case against Dinamo anyway.
“We are ready to face a financial or any other kind of punishment – but we hope and believe that Uefa will recognise true values and will allow our brilliant youngsters, who proved their value on the pitch, to play in the quarter-final.”
UEFA’s approach to fielding ineligible players in in stark contrast to the SPFL and SPL.
Despite fielding players for ten years without declaring their full earning Rangers (IL) were fined £250,000 for breaking SPL rules with no punishment applied for fielding ineligible players in the League Cup or Scottish Cup.
The £250,000 fine remains unpaid despite the Sevco club agreeing to take on the footballing liabilities of the Rangers (IL) club as part of their terms of membership.
