Ekuban’s Champions League dream To Weep

Caleb Ekuban’s aim of playing in next season UEFA Champions League has Been dealt a huge blow as Europe’s football governing body have slapped his club Trabzonspor with a one-season ban for breaching Financial Fair Play regulations.

The Ghanaian international, despite having  an injury-ravaged season in Turkey has managed to score eight goals in the 25 games he played, helping his side to the apex of the Süper Lig log.

The surprise Turkish top-flight leaders will qualify for the Champions League should they finish the season in their present position, but their hopes of competing are all but dashed unless they are able to win their appeal case.

Playing in the Champions League is a dream come true for every player, but Ekuban whose contract with Trabzonspor expires in 2022 may have to wait for a while to have a feel of the European elite competition.

A statement from UEFA on Wednesday, June 3, states that the Turkish Süper Lig side failed to meet the conditions of a 2016 settlement agreement which required them to be “break-even compliant”.

According to UEFA the ban would be applied if the club qualified for the Champions League or Europa League in either of the next two seasons.

“On 5 July 2019, the UEFA Club Financial Control Body [CFCB] Adjudicatory Chamber determined that Trabzonspor AŞ [TUR] failed to be break-even compliant as required by a settlement agreement, which it entered into on 20 May 2016 and sanctioned the club with a conditional exclusion from participating in one [1] UEFA club competition for which it would otherwise qualify in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons,” UEFA said in a statement.

“As a result, the CFCB Adjudicatory Chamber has ordered that the club be excluded from participating in one (1) UEFA club competition for which it would otherwise qualify in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons.”

Trabzonspor has also confirmed that the club will appeal the decision from UEFA:

“UEFA concluded with the decision today that our club did not comply with the reconciliation agreement we have signed with them,” the club said in a statement.

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