Europa League

Galatasaray banned from Europa League as CAS rejects appeal

By Giuseppe Labellarte, Reporter | 23 June 2016

The Court of Arbitration for Sport confirms that it has rejected Turkish club Galatasaray's bid to overturn their one-season ban from European competition.

UEFA has confirmed that Galatarasay's appeal against their two-year ban from playing in Europe has been dismissed.

The European football governing body suspended the Istanbul side in March for breaching financial fair play rules, and an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport has been unsuccessful.

Galatasaray had lost about €164m (£126m) over the last three seasons, according to Reuters, thus breaching the guidelines set by UEFA.

A CAS statement read: "The appeal filed by Galatasaray has been dismissed and the decision rendered by the UEFA Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) Adjudication Chamber on March 2, 2016 has been confirmed.

"As a consequence, Galatasaray remains excluded from participating in the next UEFA club competition for which it would qualify in the next two seasons (the 2016-17 and 2017-18 campaigns).

"The CAS Panel in charge of this matter has dismissed the appeal and has confirmed that the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair-play Regulations had been properly applied by the UEFA CFCB Adjudication Chamber in the present case."

Galatasaray had qualified for the 2016-17 Europa League after winning the domestic cup last season, but will now be replaced by Osmanlispor, who finished fifth in the Turkish Super Lig.