San Lorenzo will be deducted six points at the end of the Superliga season, the league's authorities announced today, pointing to irregularities in the club's financial statements.
The Boedo club have also been slapped with a one-window transfer ban, a statement released Friday confirmed.
The Argentine Superliga side, which can appeal the ruling, said it was punished for alleged administrative or fiscal irregularities.
The Superliga Discipline Committee said it had "issued a unanimous ruling for irregularities that were noticed in the presentation of affidavits from San Lorenzo" relating to the payment of players' wages, in a statement. "At the end of the current Superliga Quilmes Clásica 2018/19, the club will be deducted six points from the final table of positions," the committee wrote.
Although the Cuervo, who famously count Argentine pontiff Pope Francis among their many fans, have a game in hand, they already lie at the foot of the Superliga table, with two complete rounds of fixtures still to play.
The club confirmed it will appeal the ruling, calling the sanction "unjust."
"The club has never withheld the truth in its submitted documentation: it has always reported the amounts actually paid," San Lorenzo de Almagro said in a statement.
"When, due to the abrupt and severe devaluation of the exchange rate, the club was late in paying the premiums of some players, the Superliga was always informed of these exceptions, as well as of the renegotiation of certain contracts in dollars made by San Lorenzo with the players in question, with whom it was agreed to cancel [outstanding] debts before the end of the current season.
Although the news comes as a blow to the local giant, the club's position in the top flight is not in danger. San Lorenzo is only in seventh place in the so-called relegation rankings, with the Superliga using an average points system dating back three years to decide which teams drop out of the top tier.
San Lorenzo face Colón of Santa Fe on Saturday in a re-arranged fixture. The match was previously postponed in the 18th round of fixtures, after eight of the Santa Fe side's players contracted a virus.
- TIMES/AFP
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