June 18, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 13, 1429

NYON (Switzerland), June 17: FC Porto will play in the next season’s Champions League despite the cloud of a bribery scandal hanging over the club. UEFA, which had barred the Portuguese champions from the lucrative competition two weeks ago, confirmed Tuesday the decision had been reversed.

“This is essentially due to the proceedings in Portugal not having been finally concluded,” UEFA said in a statement.

Porto could yet lose the right to play in European club competition in 2009-10 season if its guilt in the bribery investigation is later proven.

The allegations date back to the 2003-04 season. Porto won the league that year and allegedly tried to bribe referees in two matches.

The Portuguese league acted last month on prosecutors’ information gathered in a long-running criminal inquiry, known as Golden Whistle.

It deducted six points from Porto and suspended club chairman Jorge Pinto da Costa for two years.

Pinto da Costa lodged an appeal but Porto — which led the league by a big margin and was assured of the championship — accepted the punishment.

UEFA’s disciplinary committee then suspended Porto from taking up one of Portugal’s three entries in the 2008-09 Champions League because competition rules state clubs must have a clean record in achieving their qualifying place.

But the UEFA Appeals Body last week overturned the ban for further evidence to be heard. It has now decided that Porto must be allowed to play because hearings in Portugal will not be finished by Aug. 1 when a draw is made for the Champions League third qualifying round.

Porto’s victory means it and Sporting Lisbon, which placed second in the league, will go directly into the Champions League group stage worth millions of euros in guaranteed prize money. Guimaraes, which finished third, must play through a qualifying round tie to join them.

Fourth-placed Benfica, which also stood to benefit from a Porto ban, must instead enter the less-rewarding UEFA Cup.—AP