Consideration of the complaint by “Zenit” by the Court in Lausanne may take six months

On Thursday evening, a session of the Committee of Appeal of the RFU was held. The agenda included the complaint by “Zenit” against the sanctions it had been sentenced to after the interrupted game against “Dinamo”. The club from Saint Petersburg sought the revocation of the decision by the Committee of Control and Discipline of the Russian Football Union, which had sentenced the club to a technical defeat, a large fine and two matches at home without its fans. It took the football officials two hours to discuss the complaint by “Zenit”. Alas, no sensation occurred. The Committee of Appeal decided not to revoke the decision by the CCD of the RFU. That is, “Zenit” failed to get three points back, the “azure-white-blues” will pay over one million roubles in fines and will play the next home game – against “Anzhi” on December 10 – with empty stands.

Obviously, the club from Saint Petersburg was not satisfied with the verdict.

After the verdict was made, “Zenit” puiblished at its official website the following message: “The Football Club “Zenit” is of the opinion that not all circumstances of the accident were considered during the Committee’s session, the person who had thrown the firecracker was not identified, neither was it ascertained that he had any connection with “Zenit””.

The club from Saint Petersburg does not wish to give up. In the nearest future, “Zenit” will file a complaint against the decision by the CCD of the RFU with the Court for Sports Arbitration in Lausanne. According to the club, the “azure-white-blues” will seek to revoke all sanctions. However, the Court for Sports Arbitration of Lausanne is no panacea. The case may take long.

Mikhail Prokopets, Head of Sports Law Group of the Law Firm "YUST", explained to “KP”: “”Zenit” has 21 days to file the complaint with Court for Sports Arbitration in Lausanne. It is hard to tell, when the case will be considered. Everything will depend on the workload of arbitrators ande secretaries. Generally, complaints in Lausanne are considered within four to six months”.

According to specialists, the RFU Committee of Control and Discipline has considered the “firecracker case” impartially. And the decision, which was made, is in conformity with the current Regulations of the Premier League.

M.Prokopets goes on: “There is a law, someone might feel it is unjust, but it must be obeyed. There is no doubt that the Committee’s decision is in conformity with the regulations. “Zenit” says that the firecracker-thrower has not been identified. But it is not the Committee, the RFU or “Dinamo” who should look for him, but the Saint Petersburg club itself! The firecracker was thrown from the guests’ sector. The regulations say that all fans sitting there are automatically considered the supporters of the guest team. Even if the person if a chess or grass hockey fan! “Zenit” failed to prove that the thrower was not its supporter. Say, there are no video materials recording the infiltration of a firecracker-throwing “Dinamo” admirer into the guests’ sector. So “Zenit” is being sly here. However, two games without spectators is a rather harsh punishment”.

“Zenit” obviously wants to recover the three points it has lost. But the experts are skeptical towards the chances of the Saint Petersburg club of winning the case.

M.Prokopets elaborated: “The Sports Court treats the cases, which involve reviewing the competition results, with much care. Some time ago, “Lokomotiv” demanded that technical defeat be imposed on “Rostov” for an illegal transfer of the player Grigovriev, but the Sports Court refused. There have been other cases. All of them resolved against the claimants. The Sports Court usually accepts for consideration violations of contractual obligations to players, other cases, but is reluctant to review the results”.

The scandal with “Zenit” erupted during a match against “Dinamo”. When the game was approaching 37 minutes, someone from the sector, where the fans of the Saint Petersburg club were seated, threw a firecracker at the goalkeeper Anton Shunin. The goalkeeper was unable to continue playing, because he suffered a burned cornea, and the arbitrator interrupted the contest. Investigation followed. Since no one was able to prove that it had not been a “Zenit” fan who had thrown the firecracker, the club of Saint Petersburg was punished with a technical defeat, a large fine and two home matches without spectators. “Zenit” has already played one of those matches – the one against CSKA. After the competition, all participants of the game with empty stands said that it was horrible. But the players and coaches will have to suffer the same on December 10, when “Zenit” receives “Anzhi”. That match will also lack spectators.

The source of the publication see here.