AC Milan to play in Champions League

The Italian ruling to ban the club was overturned on appeal, and UEFA provisionally included Milan in the tournament.

AC Milan will play in the Champions League this season.

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The six-time European champions, who had been barred from Europe's top club competition by an Italian sports tribunal investigating the country's match-fixing scandal, will face either Ireland's Cork City or Serbia's Red Star Belgrade on August 8 or 9 in the third qualifying round.

But UEFA's emergency panel said on Wednesday it made it clear to the club that "this admission is far from being given with the utmost conviction".

UEFA said it was forced to include Milan in the third qualifying round after having examined testimonies from the team, the Italian soccer federation and UEFA's disciplinary inspector.

The panel came to the conclusion that it had "no choice" but to admit Milan, because it had no legal basis to bar the team from entering the competition.

The Italian ruling to ban Milan from the competition was overturned on appeal, and UEFA provisionally included Milan in Friday's draw for the tournament.

AC Milan, owned by former Italian premier and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, submitted written arguments to UEFA's emergency panel.

The Italian soccer federation also submitted arguments in support of the team.