The ASF-SVF’s decision came a fortnight after FIFA threatened to suspend the Association if Sion was not punished for fielding six players signed in the summer when the club was subject to a transfer ban. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last month upheld UEFA’s right to exclude Sion from the Europa League, with the verdict marking a decisive moment in a lengthy legal battle that has rumbled on since September. Sion was removed from the Europa League by UEFA on September 2 after it was ruled it fielded the ineligible players in a playoff tie against Celtic in August.
The club lost an appeal against the ruling and took the case to the Swiss courts, an action expressly prohibited by FIFA and UEFA rules. FIFA's Executive Committee had given the ASF-SVF a deadline of January 13 to comply with its instructions or face a ban which would have also seen FC Basel expelled from the Champions League. The ASF-SFV has deducted three points for each of the 12 games in which Sion had fielded any of the six players, leaving the team bottom of the Swiss top flight with minus five points and almost certainly facing relegation.
The Association said in a statement: “This points deduction is to punish the illegal behaviour of FC Sion, also contrary to the statutes and rules, by illegitimately getting around the transfer ban imposed by FIFA and fielding non-eligible players.” Following the ASF-SFV’s decision, FIFA has announced that its Emergency Committee will meet to discuss the next steps early this month. The ASF-SFV’s action came just a day after Sion filed a criminal complaint against members of FIFA’s executive committee, accusing them of blackmail and a breach of rules. The points deduction may be challenged at the CAS, and Sion has signalled its intention to maintain its fight against football’s governing bodies.
“This process condemns the team irreparably to relegation,” said the club in a statement. “This decision is mainly an intolerable affront to equity in sports, but it is no surprise to (Sion), who did not expect any courage on the part of the SFV in the face of FIFA. Considering this cowardly act of the SFV, FC Sion is even more determined to defend its interests and ethics in sport of football by compliance with court decisions, both civil and sports.”