Under-fire Istanbul based club Fenerbahce were drawn against Austrian side Salzburg during Friday's third round qualifying draw for the Champions League, despite having a potential ban hanging over their heads.
The Turkish Cup winners and league runners-up to Galatasaray last season are awaiting a final decision on whether they will be allowed to continue in the competition after initially being banned by UEFA for their role in a domestic match fixing scandal.
Fenerbahce have appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which provisionally overturned the UEFA ban, allowing the club to be included in Friday's the draw, pending a full hearing.
A decision is due to be made on August 28, just one day before the draw for the Champions League group stages takes place.
If Fenerbahce reach that stage, they could still be excluded before the draw is made.
Friday's draw also saw former European champions PSV Eindhoven drawn against Belgian runners-up Zulte Waregem, while Russian giants and 2008 UEFA Cup champions Zenit St-Petersburg will travel to Nordsjaelland, who reached the group stages last season.
Elsewhere, seven-time French champions Lyon, who reached the semi-finals in 2010, face Swiss outfit Grasshoppers while PAOK of Greece play Ukrainians Metalist Kharkiv in the final matchup from the group of non-champion clubs.
First leg matches for the third round will take place on July 30/31 with the return legs on August 6 and 7.
Winners of those matches will move into the final round of qualifying, the play-offs, which brings in some of the bigger guns of European football including Arsenal, AC Milan and Schalke 04, with Real Sociedad and Pacos de Ferreira completing the five teams awaiting in the last stage.
The Champions route, which includes former winners Celtic and Steaua Bucharest, as well as last season's Europa League semi-finalists FC Basel, have yet to complete their second qualifying round second leg matches.
Should Celtic overcome Cliftonville of Northern Ireland they will face either Swedes Elfsborg or Daugava Daugavpils of Latvia,
Steaua will play either Georgians Dinamo Tbilisi or Streymur of the Faroe Islands if they first get past Macedonia's FK Vardar.
Third qualifying round draw (first leg July 30/31/second leg Aug 6/7):
League position Route
Nordsjaelland (DEN) v Zenit St Petersburg (RUS) Salzburg (AUT) v Fenerbahçe (TUR) PAOK (GRE) v Metalist Kharkiv (UKR) PSV Eindhoven (NED) v Zulte Waregem (BEL) Lyon (FRA) v Grasshopper (SUI)
Champions Route FC Basel (SUI) v Gyori Eto (HUN)/Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) Sligo Rovers (IRL)/Molde FK (NOR) v The New Saints FC (WAL)/Legia Warsaw (POL) Slovan Bratislava (SVK)/Ludogorets Razgrad (BUL) v FC Shirak (ARM)/Partizan Belgrade(SRB) Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO)/ Streymur (FAR) v Steaua Bucharest (ROM)/FK Vardar (MKD) APOEL Nicosia (CYP) v Birkirkara (MLT)/NK Maribor (SVN)
Celtic (SCO)/ Cliftonville FC (NIR) v IF Elfsborg (SWE)/FC Daugava Daugavpils (LAT)) BATE Borisov (BLR)/Shakhter Karagandy (KAZ) v Neftçi PFK (AZE)/Skenderbeu (ALB) Austria Vienna (AUT) v FK Ekranas (LTU)/Hafnarfjördur(ISL) HJK Helsinki (FIN)/JK Nomme Kalju (EST) v Viktoria Plzen (CZE)/Zeljeznicar (BIH) CS Fola Esch (LUX)/Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) v FC Sheriff (MDA)/FK Sutjeska (MNE)
Source: AFP
