Will the team from Tivat be eliminated from the domestic competition as well?

What is Arsenal's status in domestic competitions, which are played under the auspices of the Football Association of Montenegro, is the main question being asked after the European scandal that finally reached a final conclusion yesterday.

The Tivat club has been suspended from UEFA competitions for ten years, will have to pay a fabulous half a million euros to the European Football Association, and the players and managers of the Montenegrin first division team have also been severely fined - all because of the controversial, and now clearly indisputable, match with the Armenian Alashkart two summers ago, when European bookmakers were pouring in bets on the number of goals at the end of the first and then the second half. It ended 1:6.

At the end of the decision of the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Board (CEDB), it is stated that "the World Football Federation (FIFA) will be requested to extend the aforementioned sanctions worldwide."

What does "worldwide" mean and does it also refer to the domestic, Meridinabet 1st Montenegrin Football League?

This case can be viewed in two ways and is under the jurisdiction of the Football Association of Montenegro.

The Montenegrin House of Football can follow the possible recommendation of UEFA and FIFA and relegate Arsenal to a lower league, but, in all likelihood, it doesn't have to.

Arsenal's draconian European punishment is almost identical to the one given to Albania's Skenderbeg five years ago: the Tirana club was banned from European competitions for 10 years, also for match-fixing, but did not lose its status as an Albanian first division club.

He continued to play in the domestic elite, but just two years later, he himself collapsed, probably due to a lack of financial resources caused by the ban on playing in Europe and the interruption of the cash flow that playing in European competitions entails. Skanderbeg was relegated from the elite in 2022, returned last year, and was recently relegated again.

When it comes to Arsenal, this does not have to be the case, because the team from Tivat has only played in Europe once (that fateful 2023) and did not rely on revenues from UEFA - a much bigger problem for them will be how to pay the 500 thousand euro fine.

Club president Dejan Kandić was recently elected to the Executive Board of the Football Association of Montenegro, and he defended himself from the serious accusations that were previously leveled at his club due to the match with Alaškert by stating that the club's management had nothing to do with it.

- If the responsibility of individuals is established - they should be held accountable. But, if the innocence of the management and the club is established, I ask the media to report on it with equal interest - said Kandić in July 2023.

Earlier this year, he said that the club had filed a report against an unidentified person immediately after the match with Alaškert.

Club representative Ranko Krgović and player Nikola Čelebić were banned from football for life, and footballers Ćetko Manojlović, Radule Živković and Dušan Puletić will each have to spend 10 years out of the sport.

Arsenal has the right to appeal decisions by UEFA's Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Committee to the second-instance committee, and then to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

That's what the Albanian Skanderbeg did - he didn't win the case, but the sentence was upheld.