Sion have commenced legal proceedings against members of FIFA's executive committee over its threat to suspend Switzerland from world football.
The legal action relates to a long-running dispute with which Celtic fans will be familiar and dates back to Sion's expulsion from the Europa League in September for signing players while under a transfer embargo. Celtic were re-instated to the Europa League despite being defeated over two legs by the Swiss side in the final preliminary round.
Under threat of legal action from Sion, FIFA subsequently asked the Swiss Football Association to take action against the club, requesting that they be docked the domestic points they had won while fielding the players deemed to be ineligible for action. If no action was taken by January 14th, all Swiss national and club sides would be banned from UEFA and FIFA competition. Such a ban would also affect Basle, who knocked Manchester United out of the Champions League and are due to face Bayern Munich in February.
On Friday the Swiss FA, mindful of the FIFA threat, docked Sion 36 points. This move came in response to an official statement from the club regarding the proposed action which said: "FC Sion has now filed a criminal complaint against executive members of the committee of FIFA after the threat to exclude the Helvetic Federation and clubs affiliated to it. The complaint was sent to the prosecutor in Zurich. It is directed against anyone who participated or contributed to the decision of the FIFA."
Sion were originally made subject to a transfer embargo over the signing of Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El Hadary, but proceeded to sign six players last summer. They 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.