Match-fix clubs get off more lightly, says Sion president in latest outburst
ZURICH: Angry Sion president Christian Constantin is threatening to sue the Swiss federation for “millions of francs” and take his battle with the national and international football authorities to more civil courts across Switzerland.
Constantin, currently in Malaysia on business, has directed another colourful verbal volley at the football establishment.
He appeared to have no intention of ceasing to wage war on the world and Swiss federations despite his club having been penalised 36 match points – on FIFA orders – by the SFV in the long-running transfer-ban saga.
Constantin’s preference for action in the civil courts, contrary to world federation statues, stems from a belief that the Court of Arbitration for Sport is biased in favour of sports federations.
Constantin said: “It doesn’t take much to to understand how the system works. They want to take decisions which force you go to to CAS – and lose there. CAS insists it’s independent but no-one is fooled.”
The millionaire architect said he had the support of Europe’s big clubs against a points punishment “which is more than clubs get for match-fixing.”
He is planning to sue European members of the FIFA executive committee in the Zurich courts and members of the Swiss federation in Berne.
Constantin added: “I have the backing of the biggest clubs including Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, president of the European Club Association. They have all encouraged to fight on because they are unable to do so.
“No-one should forget that it is the clubs who develop the players, who pay them and who support the livelihoods of all these associations’ officials. These people enforce their diktats even though some of them are mired in corruption issues of their own.
“They should look around themselves: their days are numbered.
“There’s nothing wrong with football, only with its directors who have risen beyond their levels of competence. The president of a FIFA was a secretary who climbed the internal ladder; the UEFA president spent most of his life wearing sports kit and now he doesn’t even stay to the end of the matches he does attend; while the president of the Swiss federation was a secretary who took over the place left by a president.”
Returning to the direct punishment of FC Sion, Constantin said he would sue the federation – and, if necessary, individual board members – for “dozens of millions” of Swiss francs to make amends for the club’s sponsors.
He warned: “They won’t be able to sleep easy at night.”
