The possibility that Barcelona is excluded from European competitions for a season is increasingly real. UEFA opened a file on Barça this Thursday for the millionaire payments made by the Barça club to the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) José María Enríquez Negreira, for a “possible legal violation” of its regulations.
Although in Spain the scandal will not have a sports sanction for Barcelona, since very serious infractions have prescribed, the highest European body does have the capacity to punish the culé entity and not invite it to participate in continental tournaments.
UEFA, after the entry into force since 2007 of articles 4.02 and 4.03 of the regulations in its competitions, warns that it may penalize “any activity aimed at fixing or influencing the result of a match at a national or international level” and “will declare that said club will not be able to participate in the competition”. “This ineligibility is effective only for one season,” adds the regulations of the body chaired by Aleksander Ceferin.
The UEFA Ethics and Disciplinary inspectors were appointed this Thursday to study the case that threatens Barcelona. The continental body refers to article 31.4 of its regulations, which grants power “to the UEFA executive committee, the general secretary and the disciplinary bodies, to carry out investigations, either alone or in cooperation with other UEFA members or outside her”.
LaLiga denounced him on February 17
Barcelona has been investigated by UEFA since, two days after the ‘Negreira case’ was uncovered, on February 15, LaLiga denounced the scandal over the payment of more than seven million euros to Enríquez Negreira, between 2001 and 2018. “We could not intervene because it was prescribed (the alleged crimes expire three years after the events occurred, according to the Sports Law), but we consider that the UEFA Ethics Committee should intervene,” Javier Tebas recently proclaimed.
The top leader of LaLiga already recalled that the highest European body also requested information from the Spanish Football Federation (FEF), already sent by the body chaired by Luis Rubiales, and claimed that “make the pertinent decisions when the investigation is finished.” “Only the intention of buying a game or acting thinking that you could influence an arbitration appointment can be a crime,” Tebas acknowledged.
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