Europe’s top soccer governing body told the Kyiv Post today that the alleged Aug. 16 decision by the Supreme Court of Switzerland has “no bearing” on the Metalist Kharkiv soccer team being re-instated in this season’s Champions League.
The lawyer for Metalist’s Champions League ban
case, Markiyan Kliuchkovskyi, head of sports law practice at EPA&P law firm in
Kyiv, said on Aug. 16 that the
Supreme Court of Switzerland cancelled an Aug. 2 Swiss Court of Arbitration
for Sport that said a match the soccer club had played in 2008 against Lviv
Karpaty was
fixed.
“This decision of the Supreme
Court of Switzerland means that the decision made by CAS on Aug. 2, loses its
force until the consideration of Metalist`s appeal by the Supreme Court of
Switzerland in essence. Thus, UEFA does not have formal grounds to keep FC Metalist from playoff games. In this situation UEFA should reverse
its decision or at least suspend it,” said Kliuchkovskiy.
The Kyiv Post couldn’t confirm whether the Supreme
Court decision was handed down, and Kliuchkovskyi could not be reached today
for comment, yet it appears that the Union of European Football Associations confirmed
it in its response.
When UEFA ruled on Aug. 14 to ban Metalist from
European competition this season – following the sport arbitrage court’s Aug. 2
decision – the soccer club appealed the decision with the same arbitrage court
in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Two days later on Aug. 16, the court in Lausanne
upheld UEFA’s decision – it was this link
to which the soccer governing body referred in today’s response to the Kyiv Post.
That same day the Supreme Court of Switzerland
apparently ruled to cancel the Aug. 2 sports arbitrage court’s decision.
The Swiss-based Court of Arbitration
for Sport, in
particular, on Aug. 2 fined Metalist $25,000 and ruled to strip it of the
bronze medal for the 2007/08 season of the Ukrainian soccer championship. In
addition, Yevhen Krasnikov, sports director for Metalist, was fined $10,000 and
was banned for five years from carrying out soccer-related activity.
Six players,
all of whom played for Karpaty in 2008, were given three- and five-year
professional playing bans, as well.
Losing out
Metalist now stands to lose out on millions of euros
that UEFA pays to Champions League participants. Last season the soccer
governing body paid clubs who qualified for the group stage of the tournament
€8.6 million each.
Altogother UEFA paid out more than €1 billion to
soccer clubs that played in the previous season’s two most prized soccer club
tournaments: the Champions League and the second-tier Europa League. It
distributed revenue based on participation, TV pool share and performance.
Metalist Kharkiv
received €3.2 million for its performance in the Europea League.
Serhiy Kurchenko, 27, bought Metalist in December 2012
and announced that he sealed a deal with Kharkiv authorities to buy the city’s
stake in the revamped Kharkiv stadium for $70 million.
In an interview with Forbes Ukraine, Kurchenko said he
paid “less than $100 million” for the club. Soon after, Kurchenko announced his
intention to increase the club’s statutory capital to nearly $200 million.
In this summer’s transfer season, Metalist scooped up
Rodrigo Moledo and Diego Souza of Brazil, and Argentinean Alejandro Gomez, for
a combined estimate of €17 million.
Metalist was
scheduled to play Germany’s Schalke on Aug. 21 in the first leg of their
third-round Champions League playoff match.
Kyiv Post editor Mark Rachkevych can be reached at [email protected].
