Bursaspor ban overturned

Turkish club Bursaspor are set to play in next season's UEFA Europa League after sport's highest court on today overturned a ban by tournament organisers UEFA. "The exclusion of Bursaspor Kulubu Dernegi...has been suspended for a probationary period of three years," the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland said in a written statement.

The CAS decision comes after the Turkish club launched an appeal against UEFA, who banned them from last year's tournament because of unpaid transfer fees amounting to €300,000, the statement said.

While Bursaspor were successful in challenging the UEFA ban, the club scored an own-goal with regard to their €50,000 UEFA fine, which was increased to €250,000 by the Lausanne-based CAS. "We start again from scratch and the CAS found that a higher fine should be imposed," said CAS spokesman Matthieu Reeb.

The CAS ruling is the second to deal with UEFA's Fair Play Regulations after Hungarian club Gyori ETO was suspended from Europa League action for three years.