Tottenham Hotspur have been given a bye through to the Uefa Cup
round of 16, following the expulsion of Feyenoord.
The Dutch club had originally been kicked out of the competition
last week in relation to an incident which occurred in their group
game at Nancy in late November.
Crowd violence marred the match and Feyenoord were originally fined
and given a suspended sentence to play two games in an empty
stadium.
Uefa deemed that punishment to be insufficient and met to throw
Spurs' last 32 opponents out of the tournament.
Spurs will now automatically go through to the next stage of the
Uefa Cup, with European football's governing body confirming the
decision.
"Tottenham Hotspur FC have received a bye into the Uefa Cup Round
of 16 following the exclusion of opponents Feyenoord from the
competition," read a statement from Uefa.
"The English Premiership club were notified today by Uefa that they
have been awarded automatic qualification for the tournament's
Round of 16, where they will face the winners of the Round of 32
tie between SC Braga and Parma FC.
"Uefa made its decision in accordance with paragraph 32.01 of the
tournament regulations.
"Uefa's Appeals Body decided to exclude Feyenoord from the Uefa Cup
on 19 January following crowd disturbances by fans of the Dutch
side at the group stage match against AS Nancy-Lorraine in France
on 30 November.
"The decision taken by Uefa is subject to a possible appeal by
Feyenoord to the Court of Arbitration of Sport."
