Man United could be re-instated in the Champions League

[MR_BEN]

From the BBC.. however i would be amazed if Sepp Blatter actually punished Switzerland.

Manchester United could return to this season's Champions League if the Swiss Football Association fails to comply with Fifa and punish FC Sion.
Sion were thrown out of the Europa League for fielding ineligible players in their match against Celtic.
The Swiss FA has until 13 January to act and Fifa has threatened to suspend Switzerland and their club sides.
If the ban took effect, FC Basel would be ejected from the Champions League and United could be reinstated.
The Swiss champions knocked Sir Alex Ferguson's side out of European football's elite competition and into the Europa League, earning a 3-3 draw at Old Trafford before winning the home match 2-1.
Sion were put under a transfer embargo over the signing of Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El Hadary, but proceeded to sign six players in the summer.
Continue reading the main story

Should the deadline not be respected, the Swiss FA will be automatically suspended from 14 January 2012 onwards
​

Fifa statement
The six players took their case to a civil court in the canton of Valais, which ruled they could play, and subsequently fielded them in the Swiss league.
Sion then fielded five of the six players during the Europa League play-off tie against Celtic and were kicked out of the competition as a result, with Uefa's decision to expel them upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday.
Fifa has now ordered the Swiss FA to enforce a ban on registering six Sion players signed during the transfer embargo.
"As a consequence, all matches in which the relevant players participated shall be declared forfeit or three points shall be deducted respectively," Fifa said. "Should this deadline not be respected, the Swiss FA will be automatically suspended from 14 January 2012 onwards."
Under the terms of a Fifa suspension, a country's national and club teams, referees and officials are prohibited from taking part in international matches and meetings, or receive Fifa funding

This is about a lot more than man united. This is going to be very difficult for the Swiss FA to sort out either way. If they bow to FIFA demands, surely SION will appeal, claim that they are being penalised due to incompetence of their own association?

Back to the effect on the CL and Europa, if Man United were re-instated in Champs League who would take their place in the Europa? Hope it wouldnt be us. I actually think it would be unfair to remove Basel from this years competition, and instead would be fairer to ban swiss teams from competing in next years tournament.

 

[LSUY]

There is no mention of how this would effect the europa league - ie if Man United were re-instated in Champs League who would take their place in the Europa?

Ajax would probably receive a bye to the next round.

Though we can dream that FIFA will re-instate Man Utd in the CL and put us back into the EL (we're the best 3rd placed team). I want a day out in Amsterdam.

 

[spursandbarca]

are you kidding me??? what did basel do to deserve being kicked out. there would be lawsuits flying around and cas would just put an injunction to stop it

 

[Kendall]

are you kidding me??? what did basel do to deserve being kicked out. there would be lawsuits flying around and cas would just put an injunction to stop it

Well English clubs were banned from Europe after Heisel. It's a punishment of the association.

 

[MR_BEN]

Abosolutely. The Swiss FA have allowed Sion to register and play 6 players whilst under a transfer embargo. Therefore the Swiss FA is at risk of being suspended by FIFA, which would mean all members being banned from all FIFA events.

I agree though, it would be mayhem. Not only because of how it effects Basel, but also how it effects Sion. The swiss FA have basically given them their backing to break the embargo. To avoid punishment, the Swiss FA would need to strip Sion of all thier points earned so far, awarding a 3-nil victory to the oposition, thus effectively relegating them.

It will go through appeal court after appeal court after appeal court. I personally cannot see why united should be rewarded for swiss failure. If Basel are banned, whoeever they were due to play should get a free pass to the next round.