By DPA
Nyon (Switzerland) : European football's ruling body UEFA Wednesday threw Polish club Legia Warsaw out of the Intertoto Cup and banned the Polish club from European competitions for a year.
The ban comes in the wake of Sunday's crowd trouble when Legia fans ran amok during a second round first-leg match against FK Vetra Vilnius in the Lithuanian capital.
"With the half-time score at 2-0 in the home team's favour, Legia fans fired a considerable number of missiles on to the pitch and, as well as causing damage to the stadium infrastructure, engaged in ugly and shocking scenes with police," said UEFA in a statement on its website.
"This continued for 30 minutes and led UEFA match officials to abandon the contest."
Vetra have been awarded a 3-0 walkover and will progress automatically to the third round where they will take on English Premier League side Blackburn Rovers.
UEFA's Control and Disciplinary Body has also ruled that apart from Legia's expulsion from European competition this season, the club will also miss one future campaign should they qualify within the next five years.
Legia have been ordered to contact Vetra within 10 days with regard to compensation for the damage caused.
"Legia must react quickly and firmly if the club wishes to participate in UEFA competition in future," said UEFA. "With Legia's considerable disciplinary record for away matches, the duty of playing matches against Legia becomes a tall order that UEFA cannot afford to support any longer."
Legia have until Saturday if they wish to lodge an appeal against the decision.
Poland's Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski apologized to Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas on telephone for the violence.