BARCELONA
UEFA could still ban Barcelona from 2023/24 UCL, despite what Laporta says
Speaking on Monday, Barcelona president Joan Laporta said he expects UEFA to hold off on its ruling on the ‘Negreira affair’. But that might not be the case.
During a press conference on the ‘Negreira affair’ on Monday, Barcelona president Joan Laporta adopted a conciliatory tone when the subject turned to UEFA. While Laporta took the chance to launch broadsides at Real Madrid and LaLiga president Javier Tebas, the Barça chief distanced UEFA’s president, Aleksander Ceferin, from what he claimed is a “public lynching” of his club, and spoke of his confidence that European soccer’s governing body will choose not to hand down sporting sanctions to the 26-time LaLiga champions.
No UEFA ruling until after Spanish court case - Laporta
“There are things that we do not see eye to eye on,” Laporta told reporters at the Camp Nou, “but Mr Ceferin is acting prudently and responsibly. As things stand, he hasn’t made the same mistake as Tebas. UEFA’s investigation [into Barça’s payments to former referees’ chief José María Enríquez Negreira] is ongoing, and I don’t expect the body to deliver its verdict until the case has run its course in the [Spanish] judicial system. And as I’m certain that we’re going to be found guilty of no wrongdoing, we’ll carry on as normal.”
Barça still in danger of UCL exclusion in 2023/24
Laporta’s words can be understood as an attempt to put pressure on UEFA to hold off on reaching a ruling in its probe, ahead of a criminal case that could take anything up to five years to work its way through Spain’s courts.
However, as AS has been reporting, UEFA could still decide to punish Barça in the coming months, having in March appointed ethics and disciplinary inspectors to look into the club’s relationship with Negreira, who received €7.3m in payments from the Blaugrana during his 17-year tenure as vice-president of Spain’s refereeing committee. Since 2007, UEFA rules have included single-season bans for clubs found guilty of trying to influence the outcome of a match “at national or international level”.
Barça therefore face the threat of exclusion from the Champions League, potentially as soon as next season. To make matters worse for the Catalans, the Court of Arbitration for Sport - an appeals avenue that the club could turn to if they are suspended - has tended to uphold a ban of this nature.
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‘Negreira affair’ a “very serious situation”, says UEFA chief
UEFA wouldn’t be drawn into making any official comment on Laporta’s comments on Monday. This is consistent with the public stance adopted by the body when Ceferin spoke at his re-election as president in Lisbon earlier this month. On the advice of UEFA lawyers, he refused to offer any assessment on the ‘Negreira affair’, as the matter is currently subject to a judicial probe in Spain.
However, Ceferin’s reluctance to discuss the scandal contrasted with the position he took days earlier, in an interview with the newspaper Ekipa in his native Slovenia. “It’s a very serious situation,” Ceferin told the publication. “It’s so serious that, in my opinion, it’s one of the most serious that I’ve ever seen in soccer. LaLiga cannot hand down any sporting sanctions as the statute of limitations on the issue has expired, although prosecutors in Spain’s justice system are taking action. But when it comes to UEFA, nothing has expired.”