Fenerbahce’s European ban upheld

Fenerbahce has been expelled from the Europa League and barred from qualifying for next season’s Champions League in a match-fixing case.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport said on Wednesday it dismissed the Turkish club’s appeal against a two-year competition ban imposed by UEFA.

“Pursuant to the UEFA decision, which is now confirmed by the CAS, Fenerbahce are excluded from two editions of the UEFA club competitions,” the court said in a statement.

CAS also confirmed Metalist Kharkiv’s expulsion from the Champions League in another years-old fixing case involving national league matches. Detailed reasons for the urgent rulings will be published later.

The CAS panel’s judgment immediately removes Fenerbahce from the group stage of the Europa League.

Fenerbahce were due to join the second-tier competition after being eliminated by Arsenal in the Champions League playoffs on Tuesday. 

UEFA said its emergency panel, chaired by President Michel Platini, will meet on Thursday in Monaco to ‘decide on the consequences’ of Fenerbahce’s expulsion on the Europa League.

UEFA expelled Fenerbahce in June after judging that club officials helped fix matches to win the 2011 Turkish league title. UEFA rules bar clubs which are implicated in fixing matches played since April 2007.

UEFA agreed to let Fenerbahce play Champions League matches pending the CAS verdict.

Metalist were disqualified by UEFA this month after advancing to the playoff round. Their previous opponent, PAOK Thessaloniki, were reinstated and then eliminated on Tuesday by Schalke. PAOK now enter the Europa League.

UEFA acted upon a CAS verdict which confirmed a five-year ban from football for Metalist’s sporting director, who was implicated in fixing a match in April 2008.