NYON, Switzerland (AP) - UEFA has banned Rubin Kazan from one season of European competition for breaking rules that monitor spending on player transfers and wages.
Rubin was banned from the next Champions League or Europa League it qualifies for on merit in the next two seasons, UEFA said on Thursday. The club said it’s considering an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Rubin is fifth in the Russian league, two points behind second place, which gets direct entry into the Champions League groups.
In May 2014, Rubin agreed to a settlement with UEFA in the first round of Financial Fair Play judgments that also included deals with Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.
Then, UEFA fined Rubin 3 million euros ($3.5 million) of competition prize money. A further 3 million euros ($3.5 million) was due for breaching the settlement.
UEFA did not specify how Rubin broke the rules. The Russian club said it failed to keep to the 2014 settlement, which required it to limit its annual losses after years of heavy spending, but had done enough to avoid even harsher punishment.
“For the whole of 2017 and 2018 the club management was in close contact with (the Russian Football Union) and UEFA in an attempt to soften the unavoidable serious sanctions as much as possible,” Rubin said in a statement.
“The club completely changed its transfer and staffing policy and the club’s wage budget was cut by more than 66 percent. The club gained news sponsors and took its work with existing ones to a new level.”
Rubin played in the Champions League group stage in 2009 and ’10 - even winning at defending champion Barcelona 2-1 in October 2009 - though did not advance to the knockout rounds.
It last played in the Europa League in 2015-16, gaining entry only because Dynamo Moscow was excluded by UEFA for Financial Fair Play breaches. Rubin failed to advance from a group that included eventual runner-up Liverpool.
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