FC Porto have been expelled from next season's Champions League amid allegations the Portuguese club bribed referees in the 2003-04 season.
The Portuguese giants stormed to the SuperLiga title in the recently-completed season, but their achievement was overshadowed by a six-point deduction they received for attempting to bribe referees during the 2003/04 campaign.
And a statement on the club's official website confirmed they would not play in Europe's elite club competition next season as a result of events four years ago.
"FC Porto was today notified by the Uefa Disciplinary Committee of the decision to not admit FC Porto to the 2008/09 edition of the Uefa Champions League," read the statement.
"FC Porto will appeal against this decision to the Uefa Appeals Body."
In a statement released on the Uefa website today, the association said Porto broke its rules that ban "any activity aimed at arranging or influencing the outcome of a match at national or international level."
The decision comes after a lengthy investigation known as "Apito Dourado," or Golden Whistle, into alleged bribery by Porto of referees in matches in the 2003/4 season. The probe has been headline news in Portugal for several years.
Last month the Disciplinary Commission of the Professional Portuguese Football League stripped Porto of six points and fined the club €150,000 after its probe of two matches that took place in 2003/04.
Porto did not to appeal against that decision on the grounds that the club had a substantial lead and the six-point punishment did not affect final standings. Porto won last season's Portuguese title for the third time in a row, 14 points ahead of Sporting.
Their president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa has been suspended for two years by the Disciplinary Commission and fined €10,000 in the case.
Jose Mourinho, who joined Inter Milan on Tuesday, was the Porto coach in the 2003-4 season when his side won the Champions League and Portuguese title. His name has not been mentioned during the investigation.
Boavista, who won the Portuguese championship in 2001, were also targetted in the investigation and were relegated last month to the second division and fined €180,000 for the offences.
