Malaga confident of Euro reprieve

Malaga director general Vicente Casado is confident that his club demonstrated at Tuesday's Court of Arbitration for Sport [CAS] hearing in Lausanne that UEFA must remove their ban from European competition...

UEFA's Club Financial Control Body [CFCB] banned the Primera Division side for two seasons [with one year suspended] due to unpaid debts. While the suspended year was lifted in May after a more recent analysis of the club's accounts, the one year punishment remained in place, and as it stands Malaga will not play in next season's Europa League despite finishing sixth in the 2012-13 standings.
The club have maintained throughout that they have been singled out by UEFA and that their financial affairs are now in order. Casado told AS on leaving the hearing that he remained confident CAS would rule in their favour.
"It has been a very hard process but the club are satisfied," the Boquerones executive said. "We consider that we were able to demonstrate our fulfillment [of the regulations]."
A binding decision on whether Malaga can play in Europe next season is not expected to be made public until later in the week, and may take up to a fortnight.
The Malaga delegation which travelled to Switzerland for the hearing included executive vice-president Moayad Shatat, however controversial owner Abdullah Al-Thani did not attend.
Should CAS uphold the ban, then Rayo Vallecano are next in line to claim a Europa League spot having finished seventh last season, however the Madrid club were last month denied a UEFA license by the Spanish FA. Ninth placed Sevilla would then step up, however Rayo themselves have said they intend to take a case to CAS should the Spanish authorities not change their minds.