UEFA bans club from European games and shares a statement
A club has been banned from playing in next season’s UEFA Conference League after a decision by European football’s governing body.
Just a few days after Crystal Palace won the Conference League for the fifth time with a 1-0 win over Spain’s Rayo Vallecano, thanks to Jean-Philippe Mateta’s goal, another team has faced UEFA’s punishment.
Azerbaijan’s PFK Turan Tovuz have been banned from next season’s tournament because of match-fixing issues from the past. UEFA’s rules say a club can be banned if it has been involved, directly or indirectly, in trying to fix matches either nationally or internationally.
The club said the ban is linked to a disciplinary case from seven years ago, where Azerbaijan’s football association banned seven players from all football activities. The banned players are Gojayev Sanan, Rustamov Misir, Baghirov Emin, Sadigov Ilkin, Mammadov Rufət, Taghiyev Eltay, and Guluzadeh Shahin.
PFK Turan Tovuz also promised to take “all legal steps” and plan to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to try to lift the ban.
In a statement, they said: “We finished third in the 2025/2026 season, playing fair and earning the right to play in the Conference League. UEFA checked if we met the rules, based on a decision from the Azerbaijan association from 2019. Seven players from that time were banned.
“Our club will take all legal actions from today and appeal to the CAS to change this decision and allow us to play in the Conference League, which we earned by playing fairly. Meanwhile, we’re continuing our training plans. This month, the team will gather and travel to Turkey for a camp.”
Since finishing third in the Azerbaijan Premier League last season, the club will stay out of the competition unless their appeal is successful. PFK Turan Tovuz hasn’t played in Europe since the 1994-95 season.
Teams like Ajax, Brighton, and Atalanta are among the big names set to compete in the 2026/27 Conference League.
UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin has called match-fixing a “disease that attacks football’s very core.” Speaking about this problem in 2017, he said: “One of my main goals as UEFA President is to protect the integrity of our game and stop match manipulation, illegal betting, and corruption. Match-fixing won’t be tolerated, and those who do it must be banned.”