Escalating its legal dispute with European football’s governing body, Uefa, FC Sion and several of the club’s players have lodged a complaint with the European Commission.

In a statement on the club’s website on Monday announcing the move, Sion said that Uefa had violated European Union law in refusing to qualify its players for the Europa League, and for expelling the club from the competition.

Sion was expelled from the Europa League in September for fielding players it had signed in the off-season in breach of Fifa rules. It had been banned from signing new players for one year after persuading goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary from breaking his contract with the Egyptian club Al-Ahly in 2008.

Sion maintains that it served the ban over several transfer windows, and the signings were legal.  

The club appealed to Swiss civil courts to be reinstated in the League, angering Uefa and the governing body of world football, Fifa, who prohibit members from pursuing cases in civil courts.

Sion has engaged the services of lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont, who helped Belgian player Jean-Marc Bosman win a landmark case in the European Court of Justice in 1995, which changed the rules governing footballers’ contracts.

Uefa has asked Sion to settle the dispute at the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport. A date for that hearing has been set for November 24.

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