Court of Arbitration for Sport to decide Ħamrun Spartans’ fate on Wednesday

Ħamrun Spartans will discover their fate of whether they will represent Malta in this season’s Champions League on Wednesday, June 30 when the Court of Arbitration for Sport will issue its verdict on their appeal against UEFA’s decision to exclude the Malta champions from this season’s UEFA elite club competition.

The Spartans were declared as Malta champions in May but their hopes of returning to the Champions League qualifiers were rocked when UEFA’s Appeal Board had turned down their complaint over the European governing body’s decision to exclude them from this season’s competition due to their involvement in a match-fixing case in 2013.

After UEFA’s verdict, the Spartans said that they will consult their legal team and were seriously mulling to take their case to the Court of Arbitration of Sport in Lausanne in a bid to overturn UEFA’s verdict.

Their appeal was lodged last weekend, and Ħamrun Spartans chief executive officer Marcel Bonnici confirmed to the Times of Malta that the case will be decided on Monday.

“On Tuesday evening we received a communication from CAS stating that the judgement and the sentence will be awarded and notified to the club on 30th June not later than 1600hrs,” Bonnici said when answering questions from the Times of Malta.

“The CAS Panel will be presided by a Sole Arbitrator.

“At this point, I will again thank our local legal team who worked on this case and the foreign team of top lawyers who are coordinating and advising us on this matter.”

Hibernians, last season’s runners-up, have taken the Spartans berth in the Champions League and will face Flora Tallinn, of Estonia, in the first qualifying round.