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15/08/08There was another short-sighted referee operating in the north of Portugal on
Thursday. The Polish ref had denied Vitória de Guimarães two penalties for hand ball on Wednesday. The Austrian ref in the first leg of Sporting Braga's UEFA Cup preliminary round tie against Bosnian side NK
Zrinsjki actually helped Braga out by not seeing his compatriot Linz's handling of a loose ball to take it past Melher before hooking it into the net on 67 minutes. It was the only goal separating the teams. The teams lined up. Sporting Braga: Eduardo, João Pereira, Moisés, Rodriguez, Evaldo, Alan (Vandinho 83), Frechaut, Mossoró (Matheus 46), Luís Aguiar, Meyong (Wender 79), Linz. NK Zrinsjki: Melher, Sunkic, Stojanovic (Kordic 81), Zurzinov, Ivankovic, Serdarusic, Anicic (Susic 47), Zizovic, Djuric, Matko, Selimovic. Portugal begin the 2008/09 season in ninth
place in the UEFA rankings, with England top. the rankings, which take the last five seasons as point of reference, mean that Portugal will lose one team from the Europe in the 2009/10 season, two clubs
going to the Champions League (one automatically, one having to qualify through the preliminary rounds). This situation will be repeated in the following season if Portugal do not reach at least sixth place in the
rankings. Portugal will have four teams in the UEFA Cup in 2009/10 14/08/08 Vitória de Guimarães may have blown a supreme chance to enter the lucrative
Champions League group stage for the first time in the club's history. They drew 0-0 with Swiss club FC Basel
on Wednesday in the first leg of the final preliminary round, leaving the return in two weeks' time on a knife-edge. Vitória began a little nervously, and Basel it was who threatened first, Stocker's shot from outside the area saved low by Nilson. Midway through the first half, the Polish referee turned a blind eye to two handballs by Basel defenders in the area, the second from a shot by Douglas that was going goalwards. But apart from those missed opportunities, a Vitória lacking penetration did not deserve much more than the draw against an ultra-defensive Basel, and the only consolation can be that they did not concede an away goal.
The teams lined up. Vitória de Guimarães:
Nilson, Andrezinho, Moreno, Gregory, Luciano Amaral, Flávio Meireles, João Alves, Marquinho (Carlitos 46), Fajardo (Jean Coral 61), Desmarets, Douglas (Roberto 76). Basel:
Costanzo, Zanni, Abraham, Marque, Safari, Huggel, Stocker (Perovic 71), Ergic, Gelabert, Carlitos (Rubi 87), Derdiyok (Mustafi 80). 02/08/08 Vitória de Guimarães will play
Gothemberg (Sweden) or Basel (Switzerland) in the third qualifying round of the Champions League on 12/13 (home) and 26/27 (away) August. The winners will go into the group stage.
Sporting Braga will play NK Zrinjski (Bosnia) in the second pre-qualifying round of the UEFA Cup on 14 (home) and 28 (away) August. The winners will go into the first round proper. 27/07/08 Sporting Braga
confirmed their qualification to the second preliminary round of the UEFA Cup Saturday by beating Turkish side Sivasspor 3-0 (5-0 on aggregate) in the Intertoto Cup. Matheus just before half time, and Linz
and Luís Aguiar from the spot in the second half, got the goals. The teams lined up: Sporting Braga:
Eduardo, João Pereira, Moisés, Leone, Evaldo, Frechaut, Vandinho, Luís Aguiar, Wender (Jorginho 84), Matheus (Stélvio 71), Linz (Orlando Sá 84). Sivasspor:
Vardar, Abdurrahman (Bayar 36), Bilica (Solgelmei 59), Diallo, Ilhan, Sylla, Musa, Sérgio Pacheco, Devran, Balaili, Dagasan (Tum Herve 54). 21/07/08Sporting Braga beat Turkish club Sivasspor on Sunday in the first leg of the third round of the Intertoto Cup. Roland Linz and defender Moises
got the goals. The second leg will be on 26 July in Braga.Braga lined up: Eduardo, João Pereira, Moisés, Leone, Evaldo, Frechaut, Vandinho, Wender (Filipe Oliveira 93), Luís Aguiar
(Matheus 73), Paulo César ( (Stélvio 46), Roland Linz. 15/07/08The Tribunal Arbitral du Sport
has upheld UEFA's decision to include FC Porto
in next season's Champions League. Benfica and Vitória de Guimarães had appealed for Porto to be removed following the Portuguese Liga's decision to suspend president Pinto da Costa for alleged match-fixing, a decision which has still to be ratified by the Portuguese Football Federation.
15/08/08 Sporting Braga play Turkish club Sivasspor on Sunday in the first leg of the third round of the Intertoto Cup. The first leg will be played in Turkey, the
second on 26 July in Braga. 18/06/08 UEFA have decided to suspend the decision to bar FC Porto from next season's Champions League
following alleged match-fixing in the 2003/04 season. The European football body needed confirmation that the club had been found guilty by the Portuguese Football Federation. However, the process is still with the Federation's Council of Justice, which is currently considering an appeal by Porto president Pinto da Costa (and by extension FC Porto) of the decision (to dock the club six points) handed down by the
Liga Disciplinary Committee. 13/06/08 UEFA's decision to bar FC Porto
from next season's European competitions has been annulled on appeal from the Portuguese champions. The grounds for the annulment are (i) that it is not clear whether the Portuguese Liga's decision to dock Porto
six points (in respect of alleged wrongdoing in the 2003/04 season) has actually been confirmed in Portugal (Porto president Pinto da Costa has appealed the Liga's decision to ban him for two years, the
appeal now being considered by the Football Federation; Porto the club has attached itself to this appeal); and (ii) that Benfica and Vitória de Guimarães, the two clubs that would benefit from Porto's removal from the
Champions League, were not heard by the UEFA Disciplinary Committee when the first decision was made. The process now returns to the Disciplinary Committee. A new decision is expected next week.
In the first hour after the decision was announced in Nyon, Porto's shares shot up by 22% on the Portuguese Bolsa. 07/06/08 FC Porto
have formally appealed UEFA's recent decision to bar the club from UEFA competitions next season. This follows the ruling by the Disciplinary Committee of the Portuguese Liga de Clubes
that Porto should be docked points for alleged match-fixing in the 2003/04 season, a ruling that the club did not appeal domestically. UEFA's decision on the appeal is expected on 11 or 12 June.
05/06/08 F.C. Porto were excluded from next season's Champions League (CL) following a decision from UEFA. The case refers to the 2003/04 season, when Porto are accused
by the Portuguese Liga de Clubes of attempted bribery of referees; the decision saw the club shorn of six points in the Liga, and now precludes it from taking part in the European competition they won in
1987 and 2004. FC Porto are now set to appeal the decision, which must be done by 9 June. Porto president Pinto da Costa, speaking to TV channel SIC, was resolute: "The club does not consider itself
to be out of the CL. We're working on the appeal ... and we're absolutely convinced that we're going to be in the CL this year ... Even if we don't go to the CL, we'll have positive results on the pitch."
If Porto are removed from the competition, Vitória de Guimarães
will qualify directly for the CL (along with Sporting), while Benfica will have to qualify through a preliminary round. Marítimo and Vitória de Setúbal, already qualified for the UEFA Cup, will be joined by Sporting Braga.
UEFA's PR Director, William Gaillard, made it clear that Porto will not lose the CL title won in 2004, as nothing decided on Wednesday bears any relation to the CL of that year.
It will be the first time in 35 years that FC Porto have not played in Europe. 31/05/08 UEFA are to announce on 4 June their decision on whether FC Porto
are banned from next season's Champions League. The Portuguese Liga
recently docked Porto six points for alleged referee-fixing in the 2003/04 season. Porto did not appeal the decision and the details were sent to UEFA. If Porto are banned, they will lose at least 8.4 million euros at a stroke, 15% of the annual budget for the team.
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