Sion turn to Court of Arbitration for Europa appeal

UEFA has told Sion to settle their dispute regarding a place in the Europa League at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after rejecting their appeal.

The Swiss side were denied a place in the competition for fielding ineligible players in their qualifying victory over Celtic, with the Scottish outfit taking their place in Group I.

Sion have since launched civil court actions against UEFA and its president, Michel Platini, and their crusade was boosted by the news that a Swiss court had ruled they should be reinstated.

However, that ruling was ignored by UEFA, whose Executive Committee held an extraordinary meeting on Monday to discuss the case.

“The Executive Committee of UEFA unanimously stated that it had no statutory authority to reinstate FC Sion/Olympique des Alpes (OLA) as this was the sole prerogative of the disciplinary instances of UEFA, which operate under the Statutes in an independent manner with no influence whatsoever from the UEFA administration or UEFA Executive Committee,” a UEFA statement read.

The governing body for European football added that it is awaiting the decision from CAS on the case and that, should the tribunal decide to reinstate Sion in the Europa League, it will follow the ruling immediately.