UEFA rejects Greek club Olympiacos’ appeal against ban

The Union of European Football Association (UEFA) Appeals Body today upheld the decision to exclude Greek club Olympiacos Volou FC on match-fixing charge from this season’s UEFA Europa League and to award them a further three-year ban from UEFA competitions, deferred for a probationary period of five seasons. The Appeals Body which held a meeting today rejected Olympiacos Volou’s appeal against the decision taken by the UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body on August 10, the Greek club having been found to have breached Article 5 of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations. Volou can lodge an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within 10 days. The UEFA administration decided that FC Differdange from Luxembourg will replace Olympiacos Volou in this season’s UEFA Europa League play-off round. Differdange who were eliminated by Volou in the previous round will play Paris Saint-Germain over two legs on August 18 and 25. Volou qualified by finishing fifth in the Greek league last season, then was demoted to the second tier by league organizers last month.