The Champions League risks being thrown into confusion after Ukrainian side Metalist Kharkiv were kicked out of the competition on Wednesday but granted the right to appeal the ruling with sport's highest tribunal.
Turkish club Fenerbahce, banned from European soccer for two years over domestic match-fixing, have already been readmitted to the contest while they await the result of an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
If Metalist follow a similar path, European soccer’s governing body Uefa could be left with a logistical nightmare to sort out.
The decision by Uefa’s appeals committee to expel the Ukrainian club came 10 days after Metalist lost an appeal at CAS over a domestic match-fixing case dating back to 2008. Uefa’s emergency committee is meeting later today to “consider the consequences of the decision on the competition,” and it has plenty to chew over.
Together, the two cases have created a bewildering number of possible scenarios that Uefa might have to deal with.
Fenerbahce have already beaten Austrian side Salzburg and are due to face Arsenal over two legs in the final play-off round later this month, with the winners going into the group stage.
CAS has said it will make a final ruling on Fenerbahce’s case “by August 28th”, the day after the second leg. That opens the possibility that Fenerbahce could qualify for the group stage, having eliminated both Arsenal and Salzburg, only to be expelled.
Uefa could simply award Fenerbahce's place to Arsenal, however that is almost certain to infuriate the Austrian side and their owners Red Bull, who have been trying in vain to reach Europe's elite competition since taking over the club in 2005.
On the other hand, there are no dates available in the international calendar to squeeze in a two-leg play-off between Salzburg and Arsenal, which would be the other option. Metalist were due to face Schalke 04 in their play-off round and the logical step following their expulsion is that PAOK, the Greek side they knocked out in the previous round, would take their place, although Uefa could also simply award Schalke a bye to the group stage.
However, should the Ukrainian team appeal to CAS and be readmitted pending the final decision, as Fenerbahce were, they could still face Schalke 04 over two legs, starting on August 21st.
The worst case scenario for Uefa's would be if Metalist beat Schalke, qualify for the group stage and then lose their case at CAS. There is even a possibility CAS would not make its final decision until after some group-stage matches had been played. Two years ago, Uefa was forced to draw up a number of contingency plans for reorganising the Europa League after Swiss club Sion launched a legal challenge over their expulsion from the competition over ineligible players.
These included increasing one of the groups from four to five teams to accommodate Sion and playing the additional fixtures during the winter break. In the event, Sion lost their case and Uefa were spared a huge headache.
