The Committee of Control and Discipline from the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) announced Wednesday its decision on excluding the F.C. Oporto from the next Champions League.
The decision was taken saying the Portuguese club had tried to influence the outcome of matches by allegedly bribing referees in the 2003-04 Portuguese season.
According to the regulations of the Champion League, clubs that are or had been involved in attempts to influence the outcome of a national or international match cannot participate in the Champion League.
UEFA understands that since the bribing was in a national tournament, the European title won by Oporto is not in danger.
Now, Oporto has three days to appeal the decision and it has six month to present the arguments in order to change the UEFA's decision.
In a statement on the official website of Oporto it is said that the club will appeal to the decision of UEFA.
On May 9 the Disciplinary Commission of the Professional Portuguese Football League stripped Oporto of six points and fined the club 150,000 euros (234,000 U.S. dollar) after its probe of two matches that took place in 2003/04.
Also, the Disciplinary Commission has suspended Oporto president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa for two years and fined 10,000euros for having attempted to bribe the referee Augusto Durante for a match against Beira-Mar club.
Source:Xinhua
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