By Andrew Warshaw
August 17 – Metalist Kharkiv’s attempt to be re-instated in the Champions League has been dismissed after the Court of Arbitration for Sport turned down their appeal against a UEFA ban for alleged match-fixing, clearing the way for PAOK Salonika to take their place and face Schalke in the playoff round next week.
The CAS refused to accept the Ukrainian club’s request to freeze its expulsion pending a full appeals hearing. “The UEFA decision remains in force,” the CAS said in a brief statement, a relief for UEFA who would have had a major complication on their hands if Metalist had been successful, with the group stage draw scheduled for August 29.
European football’s governing body threw out Metalist after CAS upheld a five-year ban against sporting director Yevhen Krasnikov, but the club went back to sport’s highest court which had ruled against them once. The original ban, by the Ukrainian Football Federation, was for alleged involvement in the fixing of a 2008 Ukrainian league match with Karpaty Lviv.
The expulsion is a bitter blow to the Ukrainian league runners-up, who were pursuing their debut Champions League campaign, especially as the case refers a domestic fixture five years ago under a different regime.
It comes amid uncertainty surrounding another Champions League club, Fenerbahce, banned by UEFA in June from two seasons of European club competitions, only for the sanction to be frozen pending an appeal at the CAS.
Fenerbahce eliminated Salzburg in the third qualifying round to earn a playoff tie against Arsenal. The first leg is in Istanbul next Wednesday with CAS promising a final judgment on August 28, the eve of the eagerly awaited group stage draw in Monaco. No decision has yet been taken by UEFA about what would happen if Fenerbahce knock Arsenal out but then lose their appeal.
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