UEFA has ruled that Turan Tovuz cannot play in next season's Conference League — and a third-place finish in Azerbaijan's top flight isn't going to change that.
The decision came down on Wednesday from UEFA's Appeals Body, which found the club had failed to meet admission criteria by being "directly and/or indirectly involved in activity aimed at arranging or influencing the outcome of a match." In plain terms: match-fixing. Turan Tovuz earned the sporting right to European football, then had it taken away in a boardroom.
The 2019 case that won't go away
The root of this goes back to the 2019-20 season, when seven Turan Tovuz players were banned from all football-related activities by Azerbaijan's own governing body, AFFA, after a match-fixing investigation. That's the case UEFA has now leaned on to block them from European competition.
The club argues that was then. "In the 2025-26 season, we finished the season in third place, following all sporting principles," they said in a statement. Their frustration is understandable — they're being punished for conduct by players who were already sanctioned six years ago. But UEFA's admission criteria don't require a fresh offence. An institutional connection is enough.
Whether that's a proportionate response or a blunt instrument is exactly the kind of question CAS will now have to answer. Turan Tovuz have confirmed they'll take "all legal steps" to overturn the ruling, and they're clearly not treating this as settled — the squad is still set to head to Turkey for a pre-season training camp this month as if Conference League qualification remains live.
What happens next
CAS appeals take time, and the Conference League qualifying rounds won't wait indefinitely. If the club can't secure an emergency ruling, UEFA will likely hand their spot to the next eligible club in Azerbaijan's table. The sporting consequences are straightforward. The legal ones are murkier.
For now, Turan Tovuz are in an uncomfortable position: third-place finishers preparing for a European campaign that UEFA says they can't be part of. "There are no changes in our preparation plans for the Conference League," the club insists. That's either genuine confidence in their legal case — or a very expensive training camp.
