The Appeal Committee to the Licensing Committee of the Bulgarian Football Union (BFS) upheld the revocation of the licences of CSKA Sofia, Lokomotiv Sofia and Marek.

The appeal tabled by the fourth club – Haskovo was not reviewed by the Appeal Committee as it was not submitted within the required deadline of one week, the press service of BFS informs.

The decision of BFS means that during the upcoming 2015-2016 season, Bulgaria will be represented by its reigning champion Ludogorets in the Champions League and by three teams in the Europa League.

The three teams to compete in the Europa League will be the holder of the Bulgarian Cup, Cherno More, and the teams of Beroe and Litex, which occupied respectively the second and fourth place in the final standing in the A Group.

The Licensing Committee revoked the licences of the four clubs to compete in the domestic A Group and the European tournaments due to their outstanding debts.

It still remains unclear whether CSKA will compete in the A Group as representatives of the club are confident that the team will participate despite the revoked licence.

This was also announced by one of the owners of the club – Ivaylo Mandzhukov, who said that there were plans for establishing a new company, which will replace the indebted club.

At present, the owners dismiss the possibility of merging CSKA with another club.