Barcelona will 'NOT be banned from the Champions League this summer'

Barcelona will ‘NOT be banned from the Champions League this summer’ with UEFA to ‘wait until next season at least’ before they dish out any potential punishment following Aleksander Ceferin’s meeting with Joan Laporta regarding alleged referee payments

• The Spanish club are facing significant questions regarding payments to referee
• Barcelona accused of making series of payments to referee committee member
• Summit took place between Joan Laporta and UEFA chief to discuss matters 

Barcelona are not facing a ban from the Champions League this summer amid allegations of corruption, it has been reported.

The Catalans are mired in an alleged scandal that has rocked Spanish and European football, with it claimed the club made a series of payments totalling £6.4m to the former vice-president of the Spanish FA’s Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira’s personal companies, DASNIL and NILSAT.

The club were charged with corruption over the payments, with it claimed Negreira, the then vice-president of the Spanish referees’ committee, ‘in exchange for money’ carried out actions that ‘lead to Barcelona being favoured in the decision making of the referees’.

On the warpath as he seeks to clear Barcelona’s name amid ongoing financial concerns surrounding the club, Joan Laporta met with Aleksander Ceferin this week to discuss matters. 

According to Sport, a Spanish publication, the summit between the pair went well, with all things from the refereeing scandal to the European Super League being discussed.

Joan Laporta met with UEFA chief Aleksander Ceferin to discuss matters including the Negreira scandal

The UEFA chief has been on the record as describing the alleged scandal as ‘very serious’

It is reported Laporta travelled to Slovenia, Ceferin’s native country, with the aim of clearing the air and laying out Barcelona’s case that they did not make undue payments that sought to influence referees. 

The article claims that following the meeting, UEFA are planning to keep a low profile as they assess their options and take a long view of the process. 

UEFA will reportedly wait until next season for a punishment, if any, to be dished out as they wait to see what the courts have to say about the Catalan club’s case.

Barcelona themselves are said to understand that nothing will materialise in the short term, meaning their impending La Liga title celebrations can continue unaffected, knowing their participation in next season’s Champions League is secure – for now. 

There is said to be unease about punishing a club of Barcelona’s stature without the backing of a court ruling, despite Ceferin’s strong words in the aftermath of the scandal coming to light. 

Xavi’s side are enjoying success on the pitch but struggles continue to linger off of it

Spain’s public prosecutor has accused the club of maintaining a relationship with Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira (an Elche fan pictured with a message saying ‘Negreira give me your jersey’)

‘As far as I am informed, the situation is extremely serious,’ he said. ‘So serious that it is, in my opinion, one of the most serious [ones] in football since I have been involved in it.’

Barcelona will not be punished by the Spanish football authorities with a statute of limitations meaning punishments can only be dished out for offences within three years.

‘It won’t be possible for Barcelona to receive disciplinary sanctions,’ Javier Tebas, the La Liga chief, said. ‘Five years have gone by and (the period to hand out) these types of sanctions expires after three years.

‘On a sporting level it isn’t possible, but it may be on a criminal level. The prosecutor’s office is looking into the facts to see whether a match-fixing crime has been committed by individuals.’

Laporta has tried to make clear through a series of interventions over the past month or so, stretching back to early March, that Barcelona did not pay referees to favour them.

‘They have nothing because there is nothing,’ he said. ‘What they have done is magnify a situation in which one of the people who was linked to these companies was a former referee and a former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees.

‘He had no capacity to alter the results of any match because he did not designate the referees.’

On Monday, he launched into an astonishing tirade in which he made the highly charged link between Real Madrid and the regime of General Franco, which ruled Spain between 1938 and 1973.

Barcelona chief Joan Laporta defended his club by going on the attack against Real Madrid

‘I want to refer to the presence of a club, on its own, as a private accusation in the trial. A club that says it feels harmed,’ he said.

‘A club that has always been favoured by refereeing decisions. It has been considered the team of the regime.

‘Because of their proximity to political and economic power. I think it is worth remembering that for seven decades, most of the presidents of the CTA have been ex-members, ex-players or ex-directors of Real Madrid. 

‘For 70 years, the people who appointed those who had to deliver justice on the pitch, they were ex-partners, ex-players or ex-directors of Real Madrid. In some cases, all this at the same time.’

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