Portsmouth plan to appeal to the Football Association in order to secure a licence to compete in Europe. The club would ordinarily have qualified for the Europa League after reaching the FA Cup final. But as a result of being in administration, the club were not in a position to file their accounts - a criterion for a Uefa club licence. "It will be an uphill struggle in terms of the appeal but we'll try," said Portsmouth's administrator. Andrew Andronikou added that Sunday's stunning semi-final win over Tottenham had piqued interest from potential buyers. "It was such a marvellous occasion and such a wonderful result for the club, and it has already triggered further interest," he said. "We had one party who had shown interest, they were hovering, a real significant consortium with sporting interests, and this morning (Monday) they came to step up their interest." Two extra-time goals against Spurs helped Pompey set up an FA Cup final clash with Chelsea on 15 May. Under normal circumstances, the south-coast club would have claimed a Europa League place, win or lose, because Chelsea are near-certainties to qualify for the Champions League via their league position. But if Pompey's appeal fails, that place will go to the seventh-placed team in the Premier League instead. And in the club's current circumstances, any appeal appears unlikely to succeed as Uefa's criteria state that a licence may be refused if the applicant has not met the deadline for lodging audited financial statements, or if the accounts show payables overdue from transfer activities or towards employees. The club have also missed the 1 March deadline to file accounts with the FA by some distance. Portsmouth won the FA Cup in 2008 which led to the club's first European campaign and gave fans memorable ties with AC Milan and Wolfsburg. However, the club spiralled into huge debt, forcing them to sell their best players and culminating in their relegation to the Championship, which was confirmed on Saturday. A day later, Pompey's fans celebrated a second FA Cup final in two years, but the club are having to contend with the prospect of being shorn of some players at the Wembley showpiece because of clauses regarding bonus payments. Andronikou was appointed as the club's administrator on 26 February with the aim of cutting costs and finding a buyer for the Hampshire club. The decision to go into administration came ahead of an scheduled winding up order from Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs who have since challenged the move and questioned the validity of Andronikou's appointment.