UEFA intends to send a request to FIFA to extend sanctions to Arsenal Tivat worldwide
The return match of the qualifying round of the Conference League-2023/24 between Arsenal Tivat and Alashkert (Armenia), in which the Montenegrin club was defeated 1:6, has come under the suspicion of UEFA. It turned out that before and during the match abnormally high bets were placed. The first match, in which the clubs played a draw (1:1), did not attract the attention of UEFA.
The UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Committee ruled that Arsenal Tivat violated the provisions of the organization’s match regulations. Thus, Article 12 of the document states that “the integrity of matches and competitions is violated by any person who directly or indirectly participates in betting, sweepstakes or similar activities relating to the matches of the competition, or who has a direct or indirect financial interest in such activities.” For the violations, the club Arsenal Tivat is barred from playing in tournaments held under the auspices of UEFA for 10 years and fined €500k.
The UEFA decision also provides for the lifetime suspension of Arsenal Tivat player Nikola Celebic and the club’s sporting director Ranko Krgovic from any football-related activity. Other players who committed violations (Radule Živković, Dusan Puletić and Chetko Manojlović) are suspended from soccer for 10 years.
Soccer club “Arsenal Tivat” was founded in 1914 and is the second oldest club in Montenegro after “Lovćen”, founded a year earlier. “Arsenal Tivat” became the champion of Montenegro once – in 1937, when the championship was held there, separate from the rest of Yugoslavia.
