Irish Cup winners Drogheda lost their appeal against being removed from next season’s Conference League for breaching UEFA rules on multi-club ownership.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced on Monday that it had dismissed Drogheda’s urgent appeal. The decision comes just a day before UEFA conducts the draws for the qualifying rounds of the third-tier European competition.
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The Irish topflight side got sanctioned for violating UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules, which prevent investors from having control in more than one club competing in the same competition.
Meanwhile, Drogheda issued an apology to fans, calling the decision “heartbreaking” and estimating the loss of potential UEFA prize money in the hundreds of thousands of euros.