Arsenal have been drawn to face Fenerbahce in their Champions League play-off this month and the two legs that stand to shape their season will go ahead despite the Turkish club being under threat of expulsion from the tournament for alleged match-fixing.
Fenerbahce were banned in June from Uefa competition for two years as a result of the protracted inquiry into the scandal that rocked Turkish football in 2011. But the sanction was temporarily lifted by the court of arbitration for sport last month, allowing the club to enter the Champions League at the third qualifying round, where they defeated Salzburg 4-2 on aggregate to reach the play-off.
CAS, however, is yet to reach a final decision on whether to uphold the Uefa suspension. They intend to do so on 28 August, one day after Fenerbahce's visit to the Emirates Stadium for the second-leg of the play-off and one day before the draw is due to be made for the Champions League group stages.
It is conceivable that Fenerbahce could beat Arsenal to reach the group phase and then be kicked out of the competition, raising the question as to what would happen to Arsenal in that event. Might Arsène Wenger's team be granted a reprieve? Arsenal have the highest Uefa coefficient of any club in the play-off round.
Uefa would not answer the hypothetical question on Friday and it was easy to imagine them hoping for an Arsenal win to guard against the potentially troublesome situation of finding a replacement for a banned team. But there is precedent from the recent past, which even involved Fenerbahce and the Turkish league.
In 2011 Fenerbahce were withdrawn from the Champions League by their national federation, at the behest of Uefa, in the wake of the match-fixing scandal, which led Uefa, in accordance with their regulations, to promote the next best-placed club in the domestic league of the same association – Trabzonspor, who had finished as the runners-up to Fenerbahce in the previous season.
Besiktas finished behind Fenerbahce in third last season but they, too, face the threat of expulsion from Uefa competition because of their alleged involvement in match-fixing; like Fenerbahce, they await a final CAS ruling at the end of the month. Bursaspor were fourth in Turkey last season, meaning that they could yet be in line for promotion.
The legal minefield overshadowed a testing draw with difficult travel for Arsenal against the 18-times Turkish champions. The first-leg is scheduled for Wednesday 21 August at the 50,509-capacity Sukru Saracoglu stadium – one of Europe's most atmospheric venues and where Arsenal have won before in the Champions League. Wenger's team beat Fenerbahce 5-2 at the group stage in 2008-09.
Celtic have been drawn against Shakhter Karagandy of Kazakhstan in what appeared to be a favourable play-off, the 4,000-mile trip notwithstanding while Tottenham Hotspur begin their Europa League campaign against Dinamo Tbilisi of Georgia in the play-off round. The Capital One Cup winners, Swansea City, who beat Malmo 4-0 on aggregate in Europa League qualifying, will face the Romanian club Petrolul Ploiesti.
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