The Swiss football authorities have been given until January 13 to punish Sion for fielding ineligible players or face being kicked out of all international football.
FIFA are furious that the Sion case was allowed to drag on for months and are determined to ensure that their regulations are observed throughout the game. If no action is taken against Sion the Swiss national side will be banned from international matches with club teams thrown out of UEFA competitions.
Sion were expelled from the Europa League for fielding ineligible players in both legs of their qualifier with Celtic but have escaped punishment for using those players in the Swiss League.
Basel face the biggest punishment with exclusion from the Champions League which could allow Manchester United back into the tournament and a meeting with Bayern Munich for a place in the last eight of the competition.
A statement from FIFA read: “The executive decided to give a final deadline of 13 January 2012 to the Swiss FA to enforce the registration ban imposed on Sion by the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber and confirmed by the Swiss Federal Court and to sanction the attitude of the club repeatedly trying to circumvent this decision in a legally abusive manner.
“As a consequence, all matches in which the relevant players participated shall be declared forfeit or three points shall be deducted respectively. Should this deadline not be respected, the Swiss FA will be automatically suspended from 14 January 2012 onwards.”
The Swiss FA initially backed FIFA’s transfer embargo on signing players but backed down four games into the league season. A number of clubs have filed complaints about Sion fielding ineligible players but the Swiss FA have been unwilling to take any further sanctions against the club who have gone to the civil courts to overturn previous rulings.
Sion chairman Christian Constantin has refused to back down in the row leaving the Swiss FA to choose between sanctions from FIFA or further actions through the civil courts.
Both FIFA and UEFA have their headquarters in Switzerland but jealously guard their independence insisting that football disputes are settled in-house rather than in civil courts.
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The part I look forward to is Man Utd being reinstated and how suddenly it will be a great decision by UEFA and FIFA putting insubordinate clubs in their place. The right decision for sure. Unlike when this all began and Celtic were handed the lifeline due to cheating by Swiss sde Sion. Yes, cheating. But it was all lucky for Celtic, unlike how it will all read for Man Utd.
The fact is that the clown who runs Sion has caused this mess for Switzerland and stands to hurt every Swiss team who have been complaining all season long.
This idiot must have naked pictures of a high ranking Swiss official or something. They have allowed him to bring the Swiss game into the gutter. Cetain other teams, even here in Scotland and many in the Scottish media scoffed at Celtics reinstatement because they are used to their own rules being applied instead of those we all have to follow. But watch them appluad UEFA and FIFA when Utd get back in and the Swiss get hammered.
About time they took severe action against this idiot He has dragged the game through the gutter by trying to find a court to give a decision in his favour.
Can’t see anyway back for Man Utd though, the Swiss FA will not allow the national sides to be barred nor Basel to be thrown out for no reason.