SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
A decision made by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed an appeal made by KS Skënderbeu of the Albanian Superliga.
The dismissal comes after the football club disputed accusations of match fixing, however UEFA has now been cleared to implement its sanctions on the Albanian outfit.
A statement released by CAS confirmed the decision: “On the basis of the evidence available, the CAS Panel found to its comfortable satisfaction that KS Skënderbeu was responsible for match-fixing activities and concluded that the sanctions imposed in the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body (CEDB) decision were proportionate and justified. Accordingly, it dismissed the appeal and confirmed the Challenged Decision.”
As a result, KS Skënderbeu will serve a ten year suspension from all UEFA club competitions.
Ardjan Takaj, current club president, defended himself and the club, stating: “I have never been involved, directly or indirectly, in any activities aiming to manipulate the outcome of the match, neither [have] persons related to me. A 10-year sentence is in practice a capital punishment.”
Prior to UEFA’s involvement, the Albanian Football Association had already stripped the club of their 2015/16 league title and deducted 12 points in 2016/17 due to match fixing at a national level.
The decision has further confirmed the reliability of UEFA’s betting fraud detection system (BFDS) in identifying abnormal betting patterns on matches played by clubs at European and domestic levels.
As well as a ban across UEFA competitions, KS Skënderbeu has also been demanded to pay a €1m fine.
