The Turkish Football Federation has decided to ban domestic champions Fenerbahce from this season's European Champions League.
European football's governing body UEFA called for the move amid a match-fixing investigation involving the top Istanbul club, the federation said.
It said it took the decision at an extraordinary board meeting on Wednesday ahead of Thursday's Champions League draw.
UEFA had promised that any club found guilty of corrupting matches would be kicked out of its marquee competition and have results wiped from the record.
"UEFA is working very hard behind the scenes to ride the game of these threats," general secretary Gianni Infantino said at the playoffs draw this month.
"We will not hesitate to prosecute any individual, any official or any club."
It was unclear how UEFA will allocate Fenerbahce's place in the draw.
Turkish league runners-up Trabzonspor were eliminated in the qualifying rounds and could be reinstated, yet have also been implicated in the match-fixing probe.
Spanish rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid will join England's elite clubs Manchester United and Chelsea among the top seeded teams.
Inter Milan also heads one of eight four-team groups to be drawn in Monaco.
AC Milan need Serie A rivals Udinese to eliminate high-ranked Arsenal in Wednesday's playoffs for the seven-time European champions to avoid dropping into the pot of number two seeded teams.
source: Aljazeera
How to make soccer fans all over the world end their summer vacation with a huge bright smile on their face? By starting the Spanish soccer season with the classic of classics of course. Messi vs Ronaldo, Guardiola vs Mourinho, Barcelona vs Real Madrid, Champion vs Challenger. The crown holders will face their bitter rivals at the ever so hostile Santiago Bernabéu this Sunday for the Spanish Super cup, despite reports of a strike coming from the Spanish players union. Fans in and out of Spain couldn't wish for a better kick off.
As coach of Barcelona, Pep Guardiola has so far maintained a record of zero losses at the impressive stadium of Real Madrid. His track record in the palace of the "Royals" stands at three wins and one draw.
Last season the notorious El Clásico took place for an impressive amount of five times. During these historic encounters Real Madrid only managed to beat Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final (1-0). In the competition rounds (5-0 and 1-1) and the semi finals of the Champions League (2-0 and 1-1) Barcelona were the ones who came forth as the overall victors.
Leaving the past in the past, Real Madrid have enjoyed a delightful pre-season getting seven wins out of the seven friendlies and are more than ready to face arch rivals Barcelona. Especially the French forward Karim Benzema made a notable impression scoring a total amount of eight goals during the pre-season friendlies.
Barcelona are able to name a full-strength squad, in which three new players could be given their Bernabeu debuts, in the form of Alexis Sanchez, Thiago Alcantara and Andreu Fontas.
Real Madrid have been handed a huge boost ahead of the game, with Sergio Ramos having been named in the squad to face Barcelona. However, no such luck is in the offering for Esteban Granero and new recruits Nuri Sahin and Hamit Altintop, who will all miss out.
Be sure not to miss out on this exciting derby between two of the greatest teams in the world: it's Barcelona vs Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu.
source: goal.com, ad.nl
The Turkish Football Federation has decided to ban domestic champions Fenerbahce from this season's European Champions League.
