A protest filed by Bulgarian side Levski Sofia seeking their second leg UEFA Conference League fixture against Hamrun Spartans to be replayed has been thrown out by UEFA.

In a statement, the Maltese club said that UEFA had deemed the Bulgarian team’s protest against the result to be “inadmissible”, meaning that Hamrun’s historic progression to the play-off round of the UEFA Conference League qualifiers has been confirmed.

Levski Sofia protested against their shock elimination at Hamrun’s hands over a technical error by the referee.

They argued that the game should be replayed, because the referee allowed Hamrun winger Ryan Camenzuli to stray past the halfway line before the ball had been kicked off.

The transgression went unnoticed by the match officials, meaning that Camenzuli could latch onto a long ball amidst a mix-up by Levski Sofia’s goalkeeper, and score the winning goal to make the scoreline 2-1 and take the match to extra time.

Hamrun would go on to win the match on penalties.

It was an historic result for Hamrun as they became the first ever Maltese club to progress to the play-off round of any European competition.

They will now face Serbian giants Partizan Belgrade.  Victory will see them qualify for the group stages of the UEFA Conference League.