During the opening game of the 2016/17 season PSG v Albi, Sarah Palacin played while she was not named on the team sheet, as another player’s name was registered. The verdict from the disciplinary commission was given today and sees PSG penalised with a defeat by penalty and Albi get the win.
It was either the game to be replayed or a defeat by penalty, as PSG had now been waiting for more than two months for the decision about the game that was played on Matchday 1. It ended PSG comfortably winning by four goals to nil.
An administrative error happened with Sarah Palacin who was not named on the team sheet came on as a sub. In her place Hawa Cissokho’s name was put on the teamsheet, while she was not there as a substitute on the bench.
As a reminder, the Division 1 feminine is using the electronic team sheet for the third season. In order to fill up the matchday teamsheet, the teams no longer write-up the player’s name, licence registration number, date of birth etc, they simply click on the players names on the matchday tablet. It is probably because of a lack of concentration or attention that Cissokho ended up instead of Palacin on the teamsheet.
The facts
On the team sheet, it was mentioned that there was a “technical problem” in the post game observations area. In that box, it was written that for PSG number 9 had replaced on the 46th minute number 20. That point had to be cleared and an enquiry had been opened in order to gather all the needed information to take a decision.
The Federal commission had to examine that case before returning judgement on the final scoreline. It could have been a complex case scenario. Both captains had signed the team sheet before the game and therefore agreed on the team’s line-up. In that case, it was decided that Palacin coming on as a sub was a player participating in a game where was not registered for on the teamsheet.
Defeat by penalty
As one player had taken part in the game, while she had not been registered on the team sheet prior to the game, her team was in breach of the Reglements Generaux regulations from the FFF related to playing in a game.
The commission therefore considered that :
It was not possible that the player taking part in the game, while not registered on the team sheet, even if it was due to the club’s carelessness, would bear no sporting consequence
Validating the result from a game won with an irregularity, due to the lack of knowledge from the club on the regulations was obviously not agreeable
The fact that the referees did not realise, before the game, that there was a player not listed on the team sheet that could enter the game and play, does not exonerate the team from its entire responsibility in the fact that there was an irregularity during the game.
This is due to the fact that the captains have an obligation to check, with the potential help from the club executives, the players list and squad numbers from their team.
The referees should not bear that responsibility, as they do not have the capacity and the means to manage it especially as it could lead to an abuse of the system.
The commission put the decision in deliberate and communicated it to the club today by giving the game lost by penalty to PSG and Albi to get the win. PSG loses the three points from the victory as well as an extra point as a punishment ( for the error). Albi gets the 3 points for the win and the scoreline goes by 3-0.
Appeal from PSG ?
Top of the table before that decision, PSG should probably appeal the decision. With that punishment, they dropped to the third place with 26 points, behind Lyon and Montpellier with 27 points. The club has 10 days to appeal, once it has been officially notified of the punishment.
This is the translation from the following footofeminin article
http://www.footofeminin.fr/D1F-ALBI-PSG-1re-journee-une-erreur-administrative-offre-la-victoire-a-ALBI-par-penalite_a13226.html
Update : PSG has already said they would appeal
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