Tribunal Cantonal de Vaud decides in favour of UEFA in FC Sion case

The Tribunal Cantonal de Vaud (the Civil Court of Vaud), the same court that ruled in favour of FC Sion last October, today took a new decision: this time in favour of UEFA.

The Court, chaired by Judge Dominique Carlsson, rejected a further request for provisional measures to reinstate FC Sion to the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League. The Court deemed this request, lodged on 17 January 2012, to be inadmissible and therefore dismissed it. The Court's fees were charged to FC Sion, who must also compensate UEFA for its defence costs.

In its decision, the Court considered that the dispute in question had already been decided on the merits by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) with its award of 15 December 2011. FC Sion's claim that UEFA had committed a violation of Swiss competition law was ruled inadmissible, as was the club's claim regarding the alleged non-independence of CAS.

The Court has therefore decided in favour of UEFA, as did the Tribunal d'Arrondissement de la Côte de Nyon which, on 10 January 2012, declared inadmissible another request of FC Sion to be readmitted to the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League by way of provisional measures.

This latest court decision follows the decision of CAS that found in favour of UEFA and confirmed the exclusion of FC Sion from the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League for fielding ineligible players.

The decision of the Tribunal Cantonal de Vaud is also in line with the decision of the Swiss Competition Commission's decision of 2 February 2012 to take no action on FC Sion's complaint alleging that UEFA had "abused a dominant position".