UEFA decisions on match officials

UEFA's Control and Disciplinary Body took decisions on Thursday 18 February regarding three European match officials, based on information from ongoing investigations by German police into match-fixing and corruption. All three match officials had been charged for being in breach of the principles of loyalty and integrity under Article 5 of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations.

Novo Panić, a referee from Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been banned for life from any football activities. He has lodged an appeal with UEFA against the verdict, and the appeal hearing date will be communicated in due course.Tomislav Šetka, an assistant referee from Croatia, has been suspended until 30 June 2011. Oleh Orekhov, a referee from Ukraine, has been suspended provisionally for 30 days. His case will be examined on 18 March. Decisions are all subject to appeal within three days of the sending of the reasons for the decision.

In another case, the Control and Disciplinary Body ruled that no action is to be taken against the Bulgarian referee Anton Genov following investigations related to irregular betting patterns.

The decisions taken by the Control and Disciplinary Body are sporting ones instigated by UEFA, allowed under the UEFA Statutes and governed by the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations, edition 2008. As such these are therefore separate sporting decisions unrelated to the ongoing police investigation and criminal proceedings being conducted by the Bochum police authorities.