Bucharest football team Steaua will be able to play in the upcoming Champions League, following a UEFA disciplinary decision. Steaua received a ban from one European competition, but the penalty was suspended and a five-year probationary period imposed instead by the UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body.

The decision on Steaua's fate was taken last week in a closed door session and the announcement was made yesterday (June 25). Steaua went before the UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body for involvement in match fixing, but UEFA referred to “certain mitigating circumstances” that influenced the judgment without specifying what they were.

Following the decision, Steaua are now set to play in the Champions League and will meet FK Vardar Skopje, from Macedonia, in the second qualifying round of the competition. The tie will be played over two legs on July 16 or 17 and July 23 or 24. Steaua will play the first leg at home.

The governing body of European football took measures under its admission criteria for European competitions, citing the articles relating to influencing or arranging the outcome of matches, at a national or international level.

Steaua’s owner Gigi Becali was recently convicted by the Romanian courts for attempting to fix a match, as well on other charges of corruption and kidnapping. Although UEFA does not refer to Becali’s recent conviction, the timing seems auspicious. In May 2008, Gigi Becali tried to give a EUR 1.7 million bribe to the football players of U Cluj, and transported the money in a briefcase, which has given the case its nickname “The Briefcase Case.” The money was supposed to convince the football players to win a game against CFR Cluj, in a match that was decisive for the Romanian football championship. Football club Steaua, whose financier Gigi Becali is, would have won the championship if U Cluj had won the decisive match.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: steauafc.com)