FC Sion wins case over licence lapse

FC Sion president Gilbert Kadji, lawyer Stephane Riaud and vice president Jean Michel Ripa (from left) are waiting for the verdict Keystone

FC Sion will remain in fourth place of the Swiss league table as the threat of losing points for failing to meet its licence obligation has been removed.

After having already lost three points for fielding too many foreign players in a match against St Gallen two weeks ago, the club was faced with a possible loss of another seven points.

However, the case was dropped after a four-hour session, as the disciplinary commission of Switzerland’s national football league does not have the authority to decide over such a matter.

“The verdict was reached because of procedural reasons”, said judge Martin Sterchi from Bern, who has passed on the case to Etienne Laffely, a lawyer from Lausanne, for language reasons. “The disciplinary commission has not got the authority to decide on such a case.”

However, FC Sion is not yet safe as competent authorities could still check the club’s financial solvency and decide whether it has fulfilled its licence obligation or not.

Two weeks ago the disciplinary commission announced that Sion had missed a June deadline for demonstrating their financial solvency.

The club was supposed to produce either a bank guarantee or a cash sum totalling SFr.1.2 million.

swissinfo with agencies