The long arm of football justice came down hard this week. UEFA, the governing body for European football, has thrown Arsenal Tivat out of all its competitions for a full decade. This isn’t just a slap on the wrist; it’s a massive ban. The reason? They were caught red-handed in a serious match-fixing scandal. This kind of news always hits hard, reminding us how important it is to keep the beautiful game clean.
The whole messy business centered around two specific matches. Back in July 2023, Arsenal Tivat, a Montenegrin club, played against Armenia’s Alashkert. These were early qualifying rounds for the Europa Conference League. The scores raised eyebrows: a 1-1 draw away from home, followed by a crushing 6-1 defeat at their own stadium. Those results were just too suspicious for UEFA to ignore.
UEFA’s Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body didn’t pull any punches. They said Arsenal Tivat broke two key rules about how games should be played fairly and how results must not be fixed. On top of the 10-year ban, which stretches until the 2034/25 season, the club also got hit with a hefty fine of 500,000 euros. UEFA even asked FIFA, world football’s main body, to make sure this ban applies everywhere, not just in Europe.
But it wasn’t just the club that faced the music. Individuals tied to the scandal received harsh punishments too. Ranko Krgovic, who was the club’s sporting director, and player Nikola Celebic, are now banned from any football-related activity for the rest of their lives. That’s a lifetime exclusion, a clear sign of how seriously UEFA takes these offenses. Three other Arsenal Tivat players – Cetko Manojlovic, Dusan Puletic, and Radule Zivkovic – were each given 10-year bans. Their careers, at least in professional football, are effectively over.
This isn’t the first time UEFA has dealt such a severe blow. In fact, it’s the biggest club ban for match-fixing in European competitions since 2017. That year, Albania’s Skenderbeu club was also kicked out for a decade. They had faced investigations over matches in the Champions League qualifiers and the Europa League group stage. It shows a consistent effort by UEFA to protect the sport’s honesty.
In the same announcement, other individuals faced consequences for similar reasons. Milan Vignjevic and Goran Janjusevic, both directors at Serbia’s Radnicki Obrenovac, were suspended for 10 and six years respectively. And Christos Psomiadis, who wasn’t connected to any specific club, received an eight-year ban. These actions send a powerful message: cheating will not be tolerated. The integrity of the game is paramount, and UEFA is making sure everyone knows it.