Barcelona, the Spanish club, is under scrutiny from UEFA and may face a potential ban from the Champions League after it was revealed that the club made substantial payments to companies associated with a Spanish refereeing official.
UEFA has initiated its own investigation into the matter, which is also under investigation by Spanish prosecutors.
The governing body’s Champions League regulations, effective since 2007, empower UEFA to impose a one-season ban on teams found to be implicated in match fixing.
Official court documents reveal that Barcelona paid 7.3 million euros (£6.4 million) from 2001-2018 to two companies owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, DASNIL, and NILSAT.
Negreira, a former vice president of Spanish football’s refereeing committee, has been at the center of the controversy.
The Spanish prosecutors have formally accused Barcelona of corruption in sports, fraudulent management, and falsification of business documents, asserting that the club maintained a relationship with the refereeing official to ensure favorable decisions by referees.
While no evidence has been presented to suggest that referees or individual games were actually influenced, Barcelona has consistently denied any wrongdoing or conflict of interest, stating that it paid for technical reports on referees without attempting to influence their decisions in games.
Recently, Barcelona’s former directors claimed that the payments were made as a form of self-defense, as reported by Spanish newspaper El Mundo.
Negreira himself made similar claims during his initial investigation by Spain’s Inland Revenue, alleging that his services were procured to guarantee ‘neutral refereeing’.