Turkish Fenerbahce, Besiktas to join draws despite UEFA ban

Fenerbahce and Besiktas will participate in today’s European competitions’ qualifiers’ draws, after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) issued a stay of execution on their bans from UEFA competitions.

The two Istanbul clubs announced that they would participate in the draws, despite the ban handed to them by European football’s governing body.

Fenerbahce was given a two-year ban while Be?ikta? was handed a one-year suspension due to the two teams’ match-fixing convictions, UEFA had ruled earlier this week.

The two teams then made an application to the CAS, which confirmed on July 17 that it had “registered an appeal filed by Fenerbahce SK and a request for provisional measures filed by Besiktas JK against UEFA, in relation to the decisions taken by the UEFA Appeals Body on July 10 and 11, 2013.”

The CAS also accepted Fenerbahçe and Be?ikta?’s requests for a stay of execution.

Fenerbahçe announced that it would participate in tonight’s Champions League qualifiers draw. Besiktas will also participate in the Europa League qualifiers draw.

Bursaspor was set to replace Fenerbahçe in the Champions League preliminaries before the stay of execution was granted, while Kayserispor and Kasimpasa would have joined Trabzonspor in the Europa League, instead of Bursaspor and Besiktas.

Fenerbahce was charged after some of its board members allegedly attempted to manipulate games in the 2010-2011 Super League, while Besiktas was charged for its officials’ alleged attempts to fix the 2010-2011 Turkish Cup final, which the Black Eagles won on penalties over Istanbul BB.


/HurriyetDailynews.Com/