Pawel Cibicki’s four-year suspension for match-fixing expires in just under a month.
He has been suspended since February 2021, for taking a yellow card on purpose in an Allsvenskan match in 2020.
He was also sentenced for this in the Court of Appeal, which found him guilty of bribery and gambling offences, as according to the verdict he had received money to take the card – something that several people had bet money on.
Today, Cibicki was seriously back in training. Värnamo News reported that he trained with the Allsvenskan club today.
– It was the first session for Pawel and he will be training for a while in the future. For being the first collective training in a while, I think he looks good. I know he kept going down in Malmö, said coach Robin Asterhed to Värnamo Nyheter.
The problem? Cibicki’s suspension also applies to training with an association affiliated to the National Sports Confederation or a sports association affiliated to the Swedish Sports Confederation.
Can be suspended for four new years
What happens then if a player trains with a club anyway?
“If the person who is suspended does not observe what applies to the suspension, the suspension period must be extended by a time corresponding to the original suspension period”, it is stated in RF’s regulations.
What does that mean, we ask Dan Korhonen, who is responsible for match-fixing issues at RF.
– If the original suspension is five years, five years must be imposed on the suspension, he answers.
That would mean that Cibicki will be suspended for another four years.
– Yes, exactly. Then it is the disciplinary committee or some other body that will suspend him, says Korhonen.
And there are no exceptions, as far as you know?
– No, as far as I know, there shouldn’t be anything. He has appealed several times and asked for reconsideration several times, and there should be no exception to that, and it is a very strict set of rules, precisely the match-fixing set of rules.
SVT Sport is looking for Pawel Cibicki and IFK Värnamo.