Due to its involvement in match-fixing, the Azerbaijani club Turan Tovuz is barred from participating in the Conference League. An appeal has already been announced.
For the first time in over 30 years—in 1994/95, the club was eliminated by Fenerbahçe Istanbul in the UEFA Cup qualifiers—the Azerbaijani club Turan Tovuz qualified for international competition. Thanks to a third-place finish in the domestic Premyer Liqa, the club from the town of approximately 15,000 residents in the western part of the country would have qualified for the second round of Conference League qualifying.
Due to past misconduct, the UEFA Appeals Body excluded the club from the upcoming competition; this was announced on Wednesday. The decision is based on a violation of Article 4.01 of the UEFA Conference League Regulations. In 2019, “the club was directly and/or indirectly involved in activities,” as stated in the relevant article, “aimed at manipulating or influencing the outcome of a match at the national or international level.”
At the time, seven players came under scrutiny in investigations into nationwide match-fixing and were banned for life from all football-related activities by the Azerbaijan Football Federation. This will now prove to be Turan Tovuz’s undoing for a potential second international appearance—UEFA regulations state that no club may participate in European competitions if it has been directly or indirectly involved in match-fixing in the past ten years.
Appeal against the ban planned
The draw for the Conference League qualifiers will take place in two weeks. The Azerbaijanis will most likely not be represented alongside prestigious clubs such as Ajax Amsterdam or Europa League semifinalist Sporting Prague.
However, the club announced on Wednesday that it has already taken all legal steps to file an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). If successful, the team will resume training in the coming weeks. Should Turan Tovuz’s exclusion not be overturned, the next-highest-ranked club from the domestic league would participate in the Conference League.
