THAT'S WHAT WE'RE FACING; GERS IN CRISIS: FIFA WILL THROW RULE BOOK AT SFA Scotland national team thrown out of the World Cup Celtic booted from Champions League qualifiers Arabs, Saints, Well and Jambos all face UEFA axe.

Byline: CRAIG SWAN 

BY CRAIG SWAN [e-mail] [e-mail] SWISS football chief Edmond Isoz has warned that Scotland could be booted out the World Cup after Rangers won their transfer-ban battle in a civil court case.

And the deputy chairman of the Swiss League also believes our club sides face expulsion from Europe if FIFA follow through on the threats that hit his country during this season's FC Sion debacle.

And that could see Celtic and Motherwell miss out on the Champions League while Dundee United, Motherwell and Hearts would be banished form the Europa League.

That doomsday scenario is on the cards after Rangers' administrators Duff and Phelps went to the Court of Session in Edinburgh in order to overturn the 12-month signing ban dished out by the SFA.

Amazingly, Duff and Phelps claim they were unaware their actions would incur the wrath of FIFA, but the fall-out threatens to send the Scottish game into meltdown. FIFA are adamant that clubs who fight their domestic association in the civil courts must be heavily punished.

And Isoz has outlined the extent of the damage that faced the Swiss football authorities if they didn't hammer Sion.

The governing body got involved after Sion president Christian Constantin headed for the courts in the wake of the transfer ban imposed after his club illegally poached Egyptian keeper Essam El Hadary.

DEFIED Constantin defied the ban and signed six players. The Swiss Football Federation and the League upheld the FIFA ruling and told Sion the players would be deemed ineligible if they played.

But they backed down after Constantin won a civil court case and he used the ineligible players in the Europa League encounters against Celtic last autumn and in Swiss League games.

This infuriated FIFA who ordered UEFA to boot Sion out of Europe and to reinstate Celtic.

But not even that was enough and FIFA then warned the Swiss Football Federation punitive sanctions would follow if they did not impose severe domestic penalties on Sion.

Isoz has revealed that those punishments included kicking Switzerland's national teams out of all competitions and also dumping FC Basle out of the last 16 of the Champions League.

The Swiss Football Federation had to act to save their game and they eventually hit Sion with a massive 36-point penalty.

And Isoz believes the SFA will now be forced to crack down on Rangers after the club went to the Court of Session.

FIFA are already looking into the matter and Isoz believes a volcano is about to erupt at the heart of the Scottish game.

He said: "I know the problem with Rangers because they are practically bankrupt and I have kept in touch with the situation.

"I saw there had been a transfer embargo placed upon them and that was also what caused the initial problems with Sion.

"When Sion went to outside courts the Swiss Federation had big pressure as FIFA does not accept this.

"In Scotland, it was the decision of the FA to ban transfers and they would have taken these things to FIFA.

"With Sion, the president chose to go to an outside court which goes against UEFA, goes against the League and it goes against the Federation. The pressure then came from FIFA.

"They said if you don't take measures against Sion, we will not accept your national team any more in competitions.

PRESSURE "In fact, they said all national teams would be excluded and that included the Under-21 team for the Olympic Games.

"It was also said that FC Basle, who had qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League, would be eliminated from the competition if measures were not taken against Sion.

"It was made very clear. It felt unfair and the League was not happy to accept this pressure from FIFA.

"But in the end the decision to deduct 36 points from Sion was not from the League, but from the Federation.

FIFA said the national teams would excluded "They made that decision because FIFA that included the Under 21s put them under so much pressure to do so."

If FIFA were prepared to boot the Swiss national team out of the World Cup, there seems no reason why they wouldn't do the same with Scotland.

And if Basle were going to be kicked out of Europe then this threat will be hanging over next season's Scottish representatives.

It's an apocalyptic situation and one which, according to Isoz, could well have been avoided.

The Swiss chief confirmed that there are rules in place which gives their clubs the chance to take their grievances to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

At this stage, it seems that this option was not open to Duff and Phelps after the SFA punishment.

Isoz said: "I don't know exactly what their rules are.

"We have rules in the League that a club could contact us in writing if they are not happy and then we can go through the Court of Arbitration for Sport. In Scotland, I'm not sure if the rules allow this.

all be and "Sion would not have lost 36 points if they had gone to CAS but their president refused that route."

CAPTION(S):

SWISS-TORY LESSON: J Isoz, above, reckons FIFA's reaction to the antics of Constantin (top) show that the World Cup and European trophies may soon be off limits in Scotland