You're reading: Metalist hopes UEFA will not exclude club from European competitions after Lausanne court decision

First Vice-President of FC Metalist Kharkiv Kostiantyn Pyvovarov has said he hopes that UEFA will not exclude the club from European competitions following the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, which found a match played between Metalist and Karpaty in 2008 to have been fixed.

“I cannot comment on UEFA’s reaction. We can only hope that our club
will not be excluded from European competitions. We have already started
playing [in European competitions], so we hope that we’ll continue
playing anyway. We officially notify UEFA of the decision on Monday,
because the procedure is that we have to inform them, and then they will
have to decide what to do and how to react,” he said in an interview
with the Big Football program on the Ukraina TV Channel on Sunday.

Pyvovarov noted that the court’s decision has to be respected and observed.

“We’re a little disappointed that the decision was made at a time
when Metalist started playing in the Champions League. An appeal cannot
be filed. The case has in fact been considered. This is the highest
instance, and the judges came to the conclusion that the match was
fixed. We cannot say anything any longer, and we cannot appeal anywhere.
We can appeal on the procedural part, because we believe that some of
the procedural part was violated, from the point of view of what
evidence was taken into account and what was not,” he said.

As reported, on August 2, the Court of Arbitration for Sport in
Lausanne decided to deprive Metalist of bronze medals for the 2007/2008
season. However, Metalist and Karpaty were not deprived of nine points
in the 2011/2012 season, therefore the standings in the Ukrainian
Premier League remain unchanged.

In November 2010, FC Metalist appealed to the court in Lausanne
against a decision of the FFU Appeals Committee to deprive Metalist of
the bronze medal for the 2007/2008 sporting season of the Ukrainian
Premier League and of nine points in the standings of the 2011/2012
sporting season of the Ukrainian Premier League. FC Karpaty also
appealed against the decision of the FFU Appeals Committee to deprive it
of nine points in the 2011/2012 standings.

On October 19, 2010, the FFU Appeals Committee upheld the verdict of
the disciplinary committee of the FFU dated August 2010 to declare the
Metalist vs. Karpaty match on April 19, 2008 a fixed match. Metalist
defeated Karpaty 4-0 in that match.