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Cases

Integrity

UEFA is following a strict zero-tolerance policy, and serious sanctions (including lifetime bans from football) have been imposed in cases where players, officials or referees were found guilty of breaching these provisions.

Close cooperation involving the exchange of information between public authorities and sports bodies is essential. Indeed, it is vital that criminal investigations can benefit from a good insight into the unique features of the sports sector and sports betting markets. This would be of assistance in the detection and prosecution of serious crime.

A match-fixing case is discussed
A match-fixing case is discussed©UEFA.com

At the same time, disciplinary measures taken by the sporting authorities (often using information made available as a result of a state criminal investigation) can serve as an effective deterrent for those in the sporting community. The effective application of sporting sanctions will generally depend on the existence of a close working relationship between sports bodies and state authorities, so that intelligence obtained in the context of criminal investigations is readily imparted to sports bodies for the purposes of their own disciplinary procedures.

All in all, there seems to be a consensus calling for the establishment of appropriate means of sharing information between sports disciplinary services and public investigatory and prosecuting authorities. Close collaboration and direct communication between the different parties is paramount.

Based on the mutual cooperation between UEFA and Europol, other law enforcement agencies around Europe and the daily reports of the UEFA betting fraud detection system – which UEFA manages with the collaboration of the international company Sportradar – listed below are some of the most important cases prosecuted by UEFA and forwarded to the UEFA disciplinary bodies in the last years:

CaseDecisionYear
FK PobedaClub: 8 year ban from UEFA competitions
President: life ban
2009
Tomislav ŠetkaOne year and six months suspension2010
Novo PanićLife ban2010
Oleg OriekhovLife ban2010
Vukašin PoleksićOne year and six months suspension2010
Olympiacos Volou FCOne year of ineligibility in UEFA competitions2011
SK Sigma OlomoucOne year of ineligibility in UEFA competitions2012
Kevin SammutLife ban*2012
Fenerbahçe SKTwo years of ineligibility in UEFA competitions2013
Beşiktaş JKOne year of ineligibility in UEFA competitions2013
FC Metalist KharkivOne year of ineligibility in UEFA competitions2013
Vasile MungiuLife ban2013
Andranik Arsenyan &
Hovhannes Avagyan
Life ban2013
EskişehirsporOne year of ineligibility in UEFA competitions2014
SivassporOne year of ineligibility in UEFA competitions2014
KF SkënderbeuOne year of ineligibility in UEFA competitions2016
Luke MontebelloOne year suspension2018
Ryan CamenzuliOne year and six months suspension2018
Llywelyn CremonaOne year suspension2018
Samir ArabTwo year suspension2018

All these cases have been confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), in the case in which the party lodged an appeal against the previous decision rendered by UEFA.

*In the case of Kevin Sammut, the CAS reduced the sanction to 10 years.