Friday 22 February 2019 13:18, UK
UEFA have banned AEK Athens from the next European competition they will qualify for in the next two seasons.
The Greek club have been punished for crowd incidents ahead of their 2-0 loss against Ajax on November 27, when a section of AEK supporters threw a petrol bomb and flares into the stands housing Ajax fans.
They have also been ordered to pay a £70,000 fine and to play the next two UEFA competition matches behind closed doors.
The UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary body punished a range of disorder provoked by AEK supporters, such as throwing of objects, setting off of fireworks, pitch invasions and illicit banners.
In a statement released on Friday morning, the club apologised for the behaviour of its own supporters and stated they will be taking action against fans should they create more trouble.
"Our team apologised publicly and immediately recognised its part of responsibility about what happened and insulted mostly the name and the important European history of AEK FC," it said.
"The most important thing for all of us is to realize and think about that this decision does not mean the end of this escapade, but the beginning of an extremely difficult road of complete compliance with the actual meaning of this decision, along with the need of taking drastic action in order to avoid finding ourselves at this position ever again, because in that case there will be no return."
AEK were knocked out of the Champions League group stages in December after suffering six defeats out of six games in their group with Bayern Munich, Ajax and Benfica.
They currently sit third in the Greek Super League behind leaders PAOK and rivals Olympiakos.
