Champions League draw: Arsenal to face Fenerbahce

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Arsene WengerImage source, AFP

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 21 August, with the home leg six days 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 after they and compatriots Besiktas were punished by European governing body Uefa.

Cas says a final decision will be made by 28 August, which could be the date of the second leg of the play-off, but Uefa says no decision has yet been made regarding what would happen if Fenerbahce won the tie and lost their appeal.

The teams met in Group G of the competition in 2008-9 with Arsenal winning 5-2 in Turkey, external and the return at the Emirates finishing goalless., external

Ukrainian side Metalist Kharkiv, who have been drawn against Schalke in the Champions League, 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.

Elsewhere, seven-time winners AC Milan were paired with 1988 European champions PSV Eindhoven while French side Lyon meet Real Sociedad of Spain.

Champions League play-off round:

Dinamo Zagreb (Cro) v Austria Vienna (Aut)

Ludogorets (Bul) v Basle (Swi)

Plzen (Cze) v Maribor (Slo)

Shakhtyor Karaganda (Kaz) v Celtic

Steaua Bucharest (Rom) v Legia Warsaw (Pol)

Lyon (Fra) v Real Sociedad (Spa)

Schalke 04 (Ger) v Metalist Kharkiv (Ukr)

Pacos Ferreira (Por) v Zenit St Petersburg (Rus)

PSV (Ned) v AC Milan (Ita)

Fenerbahce (Tur) v Arsenal

Europa League play-off round:

Kuban Krasnodar (Rus) v Feyenoord (Ned)

Zulte Waregem (Bel) v APOEL FC (Cyp)

Rapid Vienna (Aut) v Dila Gori (Geo)

Tromso IL (Nor) v Besiktas (Tur)

Pandurii Lignitul Targu Jiu (Rom) v Braga (Por)

Apollon Limassol (Cyp) v Nice (Fra)

Aktobe (Kaz) v Dynamo Kyiv (Ukr)

Swansea v Petrolul Ploiesti (Rom)

Atromitos (Gre) v AZ Alkmaar (Ned)

FH Hafnarfjordur (Isr) v KRC Genk (Bel)

Elfsborg (Swe) v Nordsjaelland (Den)

Slask Wroclaw (Pol) v Sevilla (Spa)

FC Salzburg (Aut) v VMFD Zalgiris (Lit)

Qarabag (Aze) v Eintracht Frankfurt (Ger)

FC Minsk (Blr) v Standard Liege (Bel)

Jablonec (Cze) v Real Betis (Spa)

Rijeka (Cro) v VfB Stuttgart (Ger)

Chornomorets Odesa (Ukr) v Skenderbeu (Alb)

Maccabi Tel-Aviv (Isr) v PAOK (Gre)

St Gallen (Swi) v Spartak Moscow (Rus)

Molde (Nor) v Rubin Kazan (Rus)

Vojvodina (Ser) v Sheriff (Mol)

Trabzonspor (Tur) v Kukesi (Alb)

Esbjerg (Den) v Saint-Etienne (Fra)

Grasshopper Club Zurich (Swi) v Fiorentina (Ita)

Maccabi Haifa (Isr) v Astra (Rom)

Udinese (Ita) v Slovan Liberec (Cze)

Dinamo Tbilisi (Geo) v Tottenham Hotspur

Estoril Praia (Por) v Pasching (Aut)

Nomme Kalju (Est) v Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (Ukr)

FK Partizan (Ser) v Thun (Swi)

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