Turkish clubs Fenerbahce and Besiktas were both excluded from European competition next season because of their roles in a massive domestic match-fixing scandal, UEFA announced on Tuesday.
UEFA’s disciplinary Commission ruled that Fenerbahce, Europa League semi-finalists last season, were barred from the Champions League, while Besiktas cannot compete in the Europa League.
European soccer’s governing body can bar any club that has been involved, either directly or indirectly, in match fixing.
Photo: EPA
Both clubs announced they would appeal the decision.
“Fenerbahce will not have the right to compete in the next three European competitions they qualify for, which includes the 2013/14 Champions League,” UEFA said in a statement. “They will be on probation for five years regarding the third year of the ban.”
Fenerbahce, who would have contested the third preliminary round after finishing second in the Turkish league, issued a statement saying they would appeal.
“Our club will be filing an appeal to UEFA’s Appeals Committee,” it said on its Web site.
Besiktas, who would have contested the playoffs for the Europa League group stage, were, according to sources within the club cited by the Dogan news agency, preparing a dossier through their lawyers to present to UEFA yesterday.
Turkish soccer was rocked by a huge corruption scandal in 2011 that resulted in Fenerbahce president Aziz Yildirim being sentenced to six years and three months in prison in July last year, but he was released after having been detained for a year when he appealed the conviction.
He was just one of more than 90 executives, officials and players convicted over the scandal, which involved several matches in the 2010-2011 league season and includes the game that saw Fenerbahce clinch the title — a 4-3 win over Sivasspor on the last day of the campaign.
The two clubs had already been punished by the Turkish Football Federation, with Fenerbahce being prevented from competing in the 2011-2012 Champions League and Beisktas were stripped of their 2011 Turkish Cup victory.
UEFA were more lenient with Romanian side Steaua Bucharest, whose president, Gigi Becali, already serving a prison sentence for corruption, was sentenced to a further three years earlier this month for having offered bribes to players from a rival team, Universitatea Cluj, in 2008.
“The Control and Disciplinary Body also carefully analyzed the situation of FC Steaua Bucharest and, taking into account certain mitigating circumstances, the following sanction has been imposed: FC Steaua Bucharest is not eligible to participate in one UEFA club competition for which the club would otherwise qualify. This sanction is deferred for a probationary period of five years,” UEFA said.
For the first time in almost 36 years, a Parisian derby will be played in French soccer’s top flight when reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain FC take on the nouveau riche Paris Football Club (PFC) today. Not one of the players involved in today’s match — PFC’s 38-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Remy Riou is almost certainly not going to be involved — was born the last time there was a Parisian derby in Ligue 1. That was on Feb. 25, 1990, when Moroccan midfielder Aziz Bouderbala scored a brace as Racing Paris 1 beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes home that
BOUNCING BACK: Antetokounmpo had just returned from an eight-game injury absence last month, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their third win in four games Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets and grab a slice of NBA history on Friday. The Bucks trailed by as many as 16 on their home floor, but Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter to help seal the win in a frantic finish that saw five lead changes in the final 45.7 seconds. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) added 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his 158th regular-season game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and
Stan Wawrinka’s 40-year-old legs did not let him down over three-plus hours in his first singles match of a farewell tour yesterday. Three-time Grand Slam singles champion Wawrinka beat Arthur Rinderknech of France, who is ranked 29th to Wawrinka’s 157th, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). The match went 3 hours, 16 minutes. Wawrinka last month announced that this year would be his last on the ATP tour. “Today was a tough battle ... it’s amazing to come here for the first time, to have so much support,” Wawrinka said yesterday. “Twenty years on tour, you kind of always play in the same place
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka yesterday got her season off to a winning start for Japan in the United Cup, after the UK’s Emma Raducanu pulled out of their singles clash with a fitness issue, while in Brisbane, Taiwan’s Latisha Chan and Wu Fang-hsien crashed out of the women’s doubles. In Perth, despite Osaka’s win, the UK took the match 2-1 with a deciding mixed doubles victory. Osaka was too strong for reserve and 276th-ranked Katie Swan, winning 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 as Raducanu watched from the sidelines. “I’m proud of how I fought,” Osaka said. “I’d never played here, it was tough.” Britain
RSS