Malaga upbeat over appeal against UEFA ban

Malaga are confident their appeal against a UEFA ban from future continental competition over delays in payments to creditors will be successful, club director general Vicente Casado has said.

UEFA said in its ruling published in December that Qatar-owned Malaga had been sanctioned "due to the presence of significant overdue payables balances".

The governing body also ordered the club to prove by the end of this month "that it has no overdue payables towards football clubs or towards employees and/or social/tax authorities".

Malaga appealed the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and Casado said the hearing would likely take place on May 14 with a decision expected sometime in June.

"We are very optimistic," he said on Malaga's website (www.malagacf.com) late on Tuesday. "We have met with our obligations and we will prove it."

Malaga are through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League on their debut in the competition and are currently sixth in La Liga, which would earn them a place in the Europa League, Europe's second-tier club competition, for next season.

Photograph: Jon Nazca/Reuters