[ad_1]
La Liga club Osasuna say UEFA inspectors have informed them that they face expulsion from next season’s Europa Conference League.
The recommendation is in relation to ‘Caso-Osasuna’, a match-fixing scandal that dates back to the 2013-14 season.
The scandal ended with former club president Miguel Archanco and five former club directors sentenced to prison, after a court found €650,000 of club funds were directed to pay opposition players to influence results.
COMUNICADO OFICIAL | Comunicado sobre la recomendación de los inspectores de la UEFA de no admitir la inscripción del club en la Conference League 23-24.
— C. A. OSASUNA (@Osasuna) June 23, 2023
Osasuna claim that UEFA believe the scandal is in violation of article 4.1g of their competition regulations, which states that a club cannot “have been directly and/or indirectly involved, since the entry into force of Article 50(3) of the UEFA Statutes, i.e. on 27 April 2007, in any activity intended to organise or influence the outcome of a game”.
The Spanish side have since said they will appeal the decision at UEFA’s competition body appeal committee.
They said in a statement: “Strong with the weak and weak with the strong, the UEFA courts have not wanted to take into account that it was the Spanish courts themselves who have literally declared that Osasuna has been the victim of the diversion of money carried out by some of its former directors behind the back of the highest governing body of the entity, the Assembly, and the control mechanisms of the club itself.
“We are prepared for the worst, but we must not abandon the motto that has accompanied us in the reconstruction of the club for the last nine years: Osasuna never gives up.”
Osasuna qualified for the Europa Conference League after finishing seventh in the 2022-23 La Liga season.
The Athletic has contacted UEFA for comment.
(Photo: Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)
[ad_2]
