CELTIC will not be handed a Champions League reprieve despite FC Midtjylland defender Juninho's eight-match ban being upheld by FIFA.
Ange Postecoglou's men were eliminated in the second qualifying round by Midtjylland after a 3-2 aggregate defeat, but reports suggested they may be handed a lifeline after Juninho was forced to sit out his new side's 3-0 third qualifying round loss to PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday night.
The defender had served just two matches of an eight-game ban for his part in a mass brawl during a game with his loan club, Bahia, before making the move to Denmark, and he was pulled from the game in The Netherlands at the last minute after FIFA ruled his punishment was valid globally.
But UEFA have now confirmed that his ban will run from August 2nd onwards, meaning he was deemed eligible to face Celtic after all.
A UEFA statement read: "With regard to your inquiry, we would, first of all, like to inform you that in accordance with Article 66 of the Fifa Disciplinary Code (2019 edition), any decision related to the extension of sanctions to have worldwide effect falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of the competent Fifa disciplinary bodies.
"We can confirm that Uefa was made aware by Fifa on 2 August of its decision taken on the same day regarding this case, i.e. after the Uefa Champions League second qualifying round tie between FC Midtjylland and Celtic FC."
Meanwhile, Celtic manager Postecoglou - currently preparing his side for tonight's Europa League qualifier against FK Jablonec in the Czech Republic - is committed to strengthening his squad further after the capture of Joe Hart and James McCarthy this week.
“I can definitely see more signings coming in,” Postecoglou said. “But the time-frame, and how they are, is still to be sorted. Until we actually get them I can’t really comment.
“There’s already been a lot of speculation about players and on occasions there have been delays totally out of our control. So I don’t want to commit to time-lines or which players might come in.
“But we’ll definitely get some more coming in over the next couple of weeks.”
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