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ARSENAL have been drawn against Fenerbahce in the play-off round of the Champions League for a place in the elite 32-team group stages. Fenerbahce were given a two-year ban from European competition in June over match-fixing allegations but were later reinstated while an appeal is heard. The Gunners will face the Turkish runners-up away on either 20 or 21 August, with the home leg a week later. Celtic travel to Kazakhstan champions Shakhter Karagandy for their first leg.
Tottenham have been drawn away to Georgian outfit Dinamo Tbilisi in the first-leg of the Europa League play-off tie for a place in the main draw.
Spurs, who lost on penalties to Basel in the quarter-finals of last year’s competition, met Tbilisi in the 1973-74 Uefa Cup, drawing 1-1 away and winning 5-1 at White Hart Lane.
League Cup winners Swansea, returning to European competition for the first time since 1991, secured a place in the play-off with a 4-0 aggregate win over Malmo and were drawn at home against Romanians Petrolul Ploiesti.
The ties will be played on 22 and 29 August with the main draw for the group stages, featuring FA Cup winners Wigan, on 30 August.
Fenerbahce appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)after they and compatriots Besiktas were punished by European governing body Uefa.
CAS say a final decision will be made by 28 August, which could be the date of the second leg of the play-off, but Uefa have said no decision has yet been made regarding what would happen in the event of Fenerbahce winning the tie against Arsenal and losing their appeal.
The teams met in Group G of the competition in 2008-9 with Arsenal winning 5-2 in Turkey and the return at the Emirates finishing goalless.
Ukrainian side Metalist Kharkiv, who have been drawn against Schalke in the Champions League draw, face a Uefa disciplinary hearing next week after losing an appeal over a match fixing case from 2008.
Celtic’s opponents Shakhter Karagandy have won the Kazakhstan Premier League for the last two seasons.
They were beaten in their first Champions League match, a second qualifying round encounter with Slovan Liberec last term, and lost 3-2 on aggregate to Irish side St Patrick’s Athletic in the Europa League second qualifying round the season before. – BBC Sport
Online Reporter