Barcelona at Risk of Champions League Exclusion – Reports

Spanish press reports revealed that a tense situation grips FC Barcelona officials, as the club s threatened with exclusion from the European Champions League competition next season, due to the corruption case in which the Catalan club is accused, known in the media as the recent corruption case Negrera. Spanish prosecutor’s office decided to charge Barcelona in a corruption case and pay money to Jose Maria Negrera, the former deputy chairman of the refereeing committee. The former vice-chairman of the Referees Committee in the Spanish Federation opened an investigation this March claiming in a case that Barcelona provided money to the former deputy chairman of the refereeing committee of the Spanish Federation. The newspaper added that UEFA must reach evidence that Barcelona could have influenced the outcome of a domestic or European match. The recent period witnessed the involvement of FC Barcelona in providing payments to companies owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negrera, former vice-chairman of the Referees Committee in the Spanish Federation from 1993 to 2018, with the aim of influencing the results of the matches.