UEFA confirmed Barcelona’s place in next UEFA Champions League, but said that an investigation over more than seven million dollars paid to a refereeing officer could be reopened if new evidence is discovered.
The scandal surrounding the Caso Negreira could have put Barcelona’s Champions League place worth tens and tens millions of Euros at risk. This was earned after winning LaLiga in last year’s season.
According to court documents, Barcelona paid EUR7.3m (USD7.7m), from 2001-’18, to the firm of Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira. He was the former vice president for Spain football refereeing.
Barcelona was officially accused by Spanish prosecutors of fraud, falsification and corruption of documents in business management as well as in sport.
Since UEFA launched its investigation , in March, there have been no specific allegations that games were fixed or referees were influenced.
UEFA rules state that teams will be banned from European competition for one year if they have been involved in fixing a domestic or international match since April 2007. Additional disciplinary sanctions could be imposed.
UEFA announced Thursday that Barcelona has been “provisionally accepted to participate” in the Champions League. However, a future decision regarding admission/exclusion is possible. The Champions League draw for the group stage will take place on August 31.
Barcelona has consistently denied wrongdoing and conflict of interests, claiming that they have paid for reports about referees’ decisions but not tried to influence them.
The UEFA probe was carried out while Barcelona is suing UEFA before the European Court of Justice (Luxembourg) over the Super League Project that failed in the year 2021.
Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Juventus all claim that UEFA is blocking competitions because of its monopoly.
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