UEFA has handed lifetime bans to two referees for breaking strict rules

UEFA has previously handed out lifetime bans to two referees.

European football’s governing body, UEFA, oversees tournaments such as the Euros, Champions League, Europa League and the Conference League.

Alongside organising tournaments, the body often has to punish players, clubs and officials if they breach rules. UEFA have previously banned 13 teams from the Europa League, four from the Champions League, and two from the Euros.

Two referees have also been handed the harshest of punishments by the organisation.

In May 2010, UEFA announced that Ukrainian referee Oleh Orekhov had been banned from all football activities for life, after he had been charged with being in breach of UEFA Disciplinary Regulations.

UEFA explained how "The decision of the UEFA Appeals Body followed that of the UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body, made on 18 March 2010, and concerned the investigation into the match officiated on 5 November 2009 by referee Orekhov, between FC Basel 1893 and PFC CSKA Sofia in Group E of the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League. Basel won the game 3-1".

The ruling was appealed, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) dismissed the appeal in January 2011.

UEFA have banned two referees for life (Credit:Getty)

According to UEFA, “The CAS Panel confirmed UEFA's decision and concluded that it has been proved beyond reasonable doubt that there were repeated contacts between Mr Orekhov and the members of a criminal group involved in match-fixing and betting fraud”.

UEFA stated that they “must demonstrate zero tolerance against all kinds of corruption and must impose sanctions sufficient to serve as an effective deterrent to people who might otherwise be tempted to consider involvement in such criminal activities”.

This was the first case of its kind in European football history.

A second referee, Novo Panic, also received a lifetime ban in May 2010, after UEFA’s Appeal Body rejected an appeal.

Panic, a former Bosnian match official, was found guilty of match-fixing.

UEFA rule European football (Credit:Getty)

The Times of Malta reported that Panic was involved with one of "European football's worst ever match-fixing scandals involving 200 suspect games in nine countries”, which related to the rigging of matches in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Austria.

Bribing officials was thought to have earned a 200-member criminal gang as much as €10m through bets with bookmakers across Europe and Asia.

In February of 2010, then UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino – now FIFA President – issued the body’s stance against match-fixing and corruption.

Infantino said: “UEFA, together with its member associations, has already taken a series of measures in order to fight match-fixing and corruption. These cases show the results that we are starting to achieve. One important project that we have launched – the Betting Fraud Detection System – highlights suspicious betting patterns around games, and allows us to focus our investigations, thereby helping to prevent match-fixing.”