16:25 19.08.2013

Metalist vice president: Court in Lausanne to decide on Metalist case by noon on August 20

3 min read

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne has accepted for consideration an appeal from FC Metalist Kharkiv against UEFA's decision to exclude the club from the Champions League, the club's vice president, Kostiantyn Pyvovarov, has said.

"[The court] in Lausanne confirmed that our appeal has been accepted for consideration. We proposed an accelerated procedure for the consideration of the appeal with the schedule of the submission of documents and hearings. According to this schedule, the final decision [on the verdict of the UEFA Appeals Body] should be taken on August 27, several days before the group stage draw," he wrote on the home page of the club's fans metalistfans.net.

Pyvovarov also said that "the court has sent this schedule for approval by other interested parties, and comments from them are expected today."

"Given out request to use an urgent provisional measure in the form of suspension of the decision of the UEFA Appeals Body, the court wrote that the decision on suspension will be made by 1200 CET tomorrow, on August 20, as the deadline, or, perhaps, earlier. Suspension will allow us to play against Schalke," he said.

As reported, on August 2, 2013, the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne decided to deprive Metalist of bronze medals for the 2007/2008 season of the Ukrainian league for the alleged fixing of a match played between Metalist and Karpaty Lviv in 2008. 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.

The court also banned FC Metalist Sports Director Yevhen Krasnikov from carrying out any football-related activity for five years, and imposed a fine of $10,000.

On August 7, Metalist Kharkiv won through to the Champions League playoffs by beating Greece's PAOK 3-1 on aggregate (2-0 away and 1-1 at home). Germany's Schalke became Metalist's opponent in the Champions League play-offs. The teams were expected to play in Gelsenkirchen on August 21 and in Kharkiv on August 27.

On August 12, Metalist filed an appeal with the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland against the CAS ruling.

On August 14, the UEFA Appeals Body announced its decision to disqualify Metalist Kharkiv from UEFA competitions for the 2013/2014 season following the conclusion of disciplinary proceedings against the Ukrainian club. On the same day, the UEFA Emergency Panel decided to replace Metalist with PAOK FC for the remainder of the 2013/14 club competitions.

On August 16, the Supreme Court of Switzerland suspended a ruling of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, which declared a Ukrainian league match between Metalist Kharkiv and Karpaty Lviv played in 2008 to have been fixed.

On the same day, CAS dismissed Metalist's petition to suspend the decision of the UEFA Appeals Body on Metalist's disqualification from European competitions for the current season. UEFA, in turn, welcomed the court's decision.

At the same time, a statement posted on Metalist's official Web site notes that the Supreme Court of Switzerland will fully review the CAS's decision on the Metalist-Karpaty match.

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