By Andrew Warshaw
August 19 – Legia Warsaw’s last-ditch attempt to seek what they perceive as sporting justice has failed after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected their bid to be provisionally reinstated in the Champions League, clearing the way for Scottish champions Celtic to take on Maribor on Wednesday in the final playoff round.
The Polish club had hoped, somewhat against hope, that sport’s supreme court would rule in their favour after they were thrown out of the competition by UEFA for bringing on an ineligible player for the last four minutes of a qualifying tie they had already won comfortably against the Scots.
Legia won 4-1 at home and then 2-0 in Scotland but they brought on Bartosz Bereszynski near the end of the second match whilst he was supposed to be suspended. As a result a 2-0 win became a 3-0 defeat under the rules, taking Celtic through on away goals with Legia instead demoted to the Europa league and a remote tie against Aktobe of Kazakhstan.
The Poles, who said they were unaware of what they cited as an administrative error, were furious with the ferocity of the penalty since they thought Bereszynski had already served his three-match ban for violent conduct, picked up in Legia’s last Europa League group match last season. They pointed out they deliberately did not play him in either leg of the previous Champions league qualifying round against St Patrick’s this season, or in the first leg of the subsequent game against Celtic.
It later transpired, however, that he had not been registered with UEFA for the tie against St Patrick’s and hence technically he was breaching his ban.
A statement issued by CAS read: “The president of the CAS appeals arbitration division considered the parties’ written submissions and has denied Legia Warszawa’s request. Accordingly, Celtic FC remains qualified to participate in the UEFA Champions League 2014-2015 and will play its next match against NK Maribor on 20 August 2014. The Cas arbitration will now continue and a panel of arbitrators will be constituted to examine this case within the next week.”
On submitting their case to CAS, Legia had stated: “We believe that CAS will investigate the case mainly on the level of rationality and proportionality of the decisions of UEFA disciplinary body and the spirit of the game. We still hope that finally football and fair play will win.”
The case is not totally over, however. Legia would have enjoyed a huge windfall if they had gone on to reach the group stage of the Champions league and CAS will now examine their claims that UEFA should pay them compensation.
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