ISTANBUL: Turkish champions Galatasaray hit another setback today when they were struck with a one-season ban from European club competition by European federation UEFA writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

Last week Galatasaray were knocked out of the Europa League by Italy’s Lazio, then slipped down to fifth in the Turkish league, 16 points behind leaders and derby rivals Fenerbahce, after losing 2-0 at Gaziantepspor on Sunday.

Mustafa Denizli quit on Tuesday, only three months after taking over from Hamza Hamzaoglu, and was replaced on a caretaker basis by under-21s’ coach Orhan Atik.

Further punishment has come from the adjudicatory chamber of UEFA’s club financial control body  which has decided that should be barred from the next club competition for which they would otherwise qualify in the next two seasons.

Galatasaray had failed to comply with the terms of the settlement agreement that it entered with the CFCB chief investigator in May 2014.

This provides for a club to make a new start but with the proviso that it adheres to tighter new auditing restrictions going forward.

Galatasaray failed to comply and have also been ordered to limit the overall wages bill in each of the next two reporting periods (i.e. ending in 2016 and 2017).

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