Fener, Beşiktaş to appeal to CAS on match-fixing ban

ISTANBUL

Fenerbahçe chairman Aziz Yıldırım (L) greets fans during a training session. AA photo

Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş’s last hopes are their Court for Arbitration of Sports (CAS) appeals after European football’s governing body, UEFA, has approved the two Turkish teams’ bans.

The two teams will try to force a stay of execution ahead of UEFA’s competition draws on July 19, daily Radikal reported today.

On July 15, UEFA has approved a one-year ban from continental competition on Beşiktaş while reducing Fenerbahçe’s suspension from 2+1 years to two years on rigging accusations.

Beşiktaş will not be permitted to compete on a continental level during the 2013-14 season, while Fener will be prevented from playing during the next two seasons, 2013-14 and 2014-15.

Crocs in top cup

Bursaspor will replace Fenerbahçe in the Champions League preliminaries. Kayserispor and Kasımpaşa will join Trabzonspor in the Europa League, instead of Bursaspor and Beşiktaş.

Last month Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş were handed suspensions from European competitions for their alleged involvement in the manipulation of Turkish football matches. The teams immediately appealed the decision, with high-ranking representatives offering testimonies to the governing body.

Fenerbahçe was charged after some of its board members allegedly attempted to manipulate games in the 2010-2011 Super League, while Beşiktaş 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.

The two clubs’ officials were handed prison sentences by an Istanbul court in the Turkish judicial process, but the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) decided not to punish the teams, saying that even though there were efforts to manipulate some games, they had not been reflected on the pitch. UEFA then opened its own investigation.