Porto's exclusion from next season's Champions League could bolster Rangers' chances of being included in Pot 2 when the draw for the group stage is made in late August.

The Portuguese champions have been banned by UEFA from taking part in the competition after being found guilty of attempting to bribe referees during the 2003/04 season. The allegations relate to Porto's 2-0 win against Estrela da Amadora and their 0-0 draw with Beira Mar.

Porto won their domestic title and the Champions League that season under Jose Mourinho, now Inter Milan manager, who has not been mentioned in any allegations.

A statement on the club's official website confirmed they would not play in Europe's elite club competition next season as a result of events four years ago. "FC Porto was today notified by the UEFA Disciplinary Committee of the decision to not admit FC Porto to the 2008/09 edition of the UEFA Champions League. FC Porto will appeal against this decision to the UEFA Appeals Body."

Rangers will need to progress through two qualifying rounds if they are to reach the group stage of next season's Champions League, but Porto's dismissal has improved their chances of being included among the second group of seeds, should Vitoria Guimares be promoted from the qualifying round to take Porto's place in the group stage alongside Sporting Lisbon.

Rangers would then move up to assume top place in Pot 3 and would require just one of the higher-ranked qualifiers - Arsenal, Liverpool, Schalke, Barcelona or Juventus - to fail to progress for them to move into the second group of seeds. Celtic, who have gained direct access to the Champions League group stage on the back of winning this season's Clydesdale Bank Premier League, will remain in Pot 3 with only a remote chance of gaining promotion to Pot 2.

Porto were found guilty last month by the Portuguese league of fixing the two league matches in question, which were part of the "Golden Whistle" investigation. As a result they were fined 150,000 Euros and docked six points, although the punishment did not affect the final standings as Porto still finished 14 points ahead of Sporting Lisbon.

However, the club's president, Jorge Pinto da Costa, has appealed against a two-year suspension and he will go to trial in a civil lawsuit by Porto prosecutors.

William Gaillard, UEFA director of communications, said: "We have taken this decision because a Portuguese court has actually sentenced FC Porto and its president. The president has appealed against the decision, but the club itself has not appealed and therefore this is a sentence that stands and under our statutes, we felt obliged to ban them from next year's Champions League.

"I don't think it will affect Porto's status as champions of Europe in 2004, this is not something that has come up in the recent debates that we had among our legal experts. Porto can appeal within three days of receiving the motivations of the sentence. If it lost that appeal, of course we would then replace Porto with the runners-up."

The affair in Portugal, which came to light in April 2004, also resulted in five referees being suspended for periods of between two-and-a-half and six years. The referees were found guilty of accepting the offer of prostitutes after matches, while in once case an official received 2500 Euros prior to a match. Boavista were relegated to the second division for their part in the match-fixing.