Stelios Manolas

AEK beat Murcia 77-75 in a dramatic Basketball Champions League semifinal in Athens on Friday and will contest Sunday's final with favorite Monaco.

FIFA has suspended Greece defender Kostas Manolas from a World Cup playoff match for trying to manipulate his disciplinary record.

FIFA says Manolas was judged to be guilty of "intentionally seeking a yellow card" in a World Cup qualifying game. It triggered a one-match ban which he served in Greece's final qualifier, cleaning his record for the playoffs.

AEK won its 15th Greek Cup, on the year of its return to the top flight, upsetting champion Olympiakos 2-1 in front of nearly empty stands at the Olympic Stadium of Athens in Tuesday's final, in a game that very nearly never was.

Uruguayan Gustavo Poyet was fired by AEK on Tuesday, one day before the Athens club was due to face Atromitos in a first leg Greek Cup semi-final.

Former Sunderland coach Poyet had told Greek media earlier in the day that he would be leaving at the end of the season.

Press reports said AEK chiefs were unhappy that Poyet had told the media before informing them.