Emenike and Yobo
Nigerian duo of Joseph Yobo and Emmanuel Emenike are out of this season’s Europa Cup as their Turkish side Fenerbahce will be unable to compete in the Europa League this season.
This comes after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a UEFA-imposed two-year ban from European competition over a match-fixing scandal on Wednesday. Emenike just joined the team in the summer transfers.
With the International Olympic Committee vote on whether Istanbul, Madrid or Tokyo will host the 2020 Olympics due on Sept. 7, the timing of the announcement delivers another body blow to the tarnished image of Turkish sport.
The Turkish Athletics Federation earlier on Wednesday handed a two-year suspension to double European 100m hurdles champion Nevin Yanit for drugs violations, just weeks after similar bans were given to 31 other local athletes.
Fenerbahce said they would appeal the CAS decision in a Swiss federal court but the club’s shares took a beating following the decision, falling nearly 6 percent, before trimming losses to close 3.5 percent down at 24.60 lira.
Playing under appeal against the original ban, Fenerbahce were beaten 2-0 by Arsenal in the second leg of a Champions League playoff on Tuesday, losing the tie 5-0 on aggregate.
Normally a defeat at this stage would still guarantee a berth in the continent’s second tier competition but Fenerbahce will be barred from the Europa League following the CAS ruling.
Lausanne-based CAS said in a statement it had dismissed appeals filed by Fenerbahce and Ukraine’s Metalist Kharkiv, barred by UEFA over involvement in a domestic match-fixing case dating back to 2008.
“Fenerbahce SK is excluded from two editions of the UEFA club competitions,” CAS said in its ruling following a two-day hearing held at its headquarters on August 21-22.
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