Legia Warsaw’s request for provisional measures that would have allowed them to take part in the Champions League playoff round pending an appeal was denied by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) yesterday.
The Polish club beat Celtic 6-1 on aggregate in their third qualifying round tie but were knocked out of the competition when UEFA ordered that they forfeit the second leg, which they won 2-0, for fielding an ineligible player.
The Scottish side were awarded a 3-0 win, which allowed them to qualify on away goals with a 4-4 aggregate draw. Legia had appealed against the decision to CAS and asked for urgent measures so they could have taken part in the playoff round.
The CAS ruling means that Celtic will face Slovenian champions Maribor over two legs for a place in the lucrative group stage, with the first leg in Slovenia tomorrow.
“The president of the CAS appeals arbitration division considered the parties’ written submissions and has denied Legia Warszawa’s request,” the CAS said. “The CAS arbitration will now continue and a panel of arbitrators will be constituted to examine this case within the next weeks.
“On the merits, Legia has requested that no sanctions be imposed on either the club or the player, Bereszynski, and that UEFA be ordered to pay a financial compensation to the Polish club.”
Legia brought on Bereszynski, who was suspended, for the last few minutes of the second leg against Celtic at Murrayfield.
Legia thought Bereszynski was eligible but because he had not been registered in their squad for their previous three matches he had not completed the ban.
Legia Warsaw chairman Dariusz Mioduski was resigned to the decision but vowed to continue the legal action in order to force UEFA to change its rules to make sure no other club was subjected to such measures.
Mioduski said: “We expected this decision. We just felt we needed to file for provisional measures because this was our last chance to get reinstated.
“Knowing that both UEFA and Celtic would be filing documents and arguing against us, we didn’t expect the courts would make a different decision.
“But we will not give up on our pursuit on what we believe is justice for football.”