Owner of Swiss football club contests disciplinary action

In December, Constantin was banned from all stadiums for nine months Keystone

Christian Constantin, the owner and president of football club FC Sion, has taken the Swiss Football League to court to reverse the League’s disciplinary action against him for punching a television consultant last September. 

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne announced on Thursday that Constantin had brought a case against the Swiss Football League (SFL). Constantin and his company Olympique des Alpes have filed an appeal with the CAS seeking “annulment of the decision of the SFL’s Court of Appeal”. 

No procedural timetable has yet been established for the hearing. 

Constantin is under a nine-month stadium ban for physically assaulting Rolf Fringer, former manager of the national men’s football team and now a consultant for a television station, on September 21. Fringer had written a critical article on the FC Sion owner who later wanted to “settle scores”. Constantin was also fined CHF30,000 ($30,700) for his actions. The punishment was imposed by the SFL Board of Appeal in December. The SFL had originally fined him CHF100,000 and banned him for 14 months. 

Le président du FC Sion Christian Constantin risque gros pour avoir frappé un consultant sportif qui l'avait critiqué pic.twitter.com/ivDo1BGMf8External link

— RTSinfo (@RTSinfo) September 22, 2017External link

Olympic support

After former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, Constantin is one of canton Valais’s best-known locals. He has rallied significant support for the Sion 2026 Winter Olympics project, for which the government agreed to pledge almost CHF1 billion. 

A final vote on the host city by the International Olympic Committee will take place in summer 2019. However, critics who disapprove of the project accuse Constantin of submitting Switzerland as an Olympic candidate to boost his architecture business.