The 2023/24 Champions League chances for Barcelona has been confirmed after the club’s meeting with UEFA President, Aleksander Ceferin.
Barcelona on-field successes in the Laliga has recently been marred with reports of referee inducement.
The Catalan club seemed to have successfully weather the challenge from domestic rivals Real Madrid in the Laliga title race.
With an 11 points gap above Real Madrid after 29 games, the Blaugrana are in pole position to win the league and secure qualification for 2023/24 Champions League.
However, a brilliant Laliga campaign has been warped with reports the club have compromised Spain football veteran and former referee Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.
Reports from Spanish media claimed Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira was allegedly bribed by Barcelona to tinker with the officiating and skew match outcomes to favor the club.
The report claims Barcelona made a £6.4m payment to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira when he was the vice-chairman of Spanish FA’s Technical Committee of Referee.
The said payments were allegedly made through Negreira’s companies – NILSAT and DASNIL.
Spanish prosecutors slammed charges on Barcelona after the alleged money inducement to have Negreira favor the club during officiating.
Barcelona have not denied making the payments to Negreira but have denied any wrongdoing.
The club maintains the said payments were made for purely consultancy services from Negreira and was devoid of any ulterior motive as carried by reports.
While investigations are ongoing, there were reports Barcelona could face Champions League ban next season which could soil their triumphant Laliga campaign.
A Champions League ban would have also served the club a fatal blow to their dwindling financial forutnes.
UEFA were ready to wade into the scandal after investigations by ensuring a ban from Champions League is effected if the club is found guilty.
Now, according to Sport, Barcelona President Joan Laporte and UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin have met on the war path of the scandal.
The report adds the meeting between the two football executives went well with the Negreira issue being discussed, including the botched European Super League.
Joan Laporte, bearing in mind, the burden of a possible Champions League sanction next season, decided to visit Ceferin in his home country Slovenia were he reemphasized the innocence of Barcelona in the alleged scandal.
However, the report adds UEFA has not totally withdraw from the matter but has opted to keep a low profile while monitoring the investigative process.
The European football governing body has now decided to ‘wait until next season to see the decision of the court on the case before taking any action.’
This means Barcelona can go ahead with their celebrations if they win the LaLiga title and will certainly appear in Champions League next season.
Before the meeting, Ceferin reportedly issue strong words on the alleged scandal saying “the allegations are extremely serious as far as I am concerned.”
Meanwhile, based on Spanish FA’s statutes of limitations, Barcelona were deemed untouchable for the alleged offence on sporting level because five years have passed since the offence was allegedly committed.
The Spanish football statutes of limitations allows football clubs to only be punished for offences that is not later than three years.
However, on a criminal level, the club can still be punished based on court’s judgement.
Meanwhile, Barcelona are now not liable for immediate punishments that could temper with their Champions League chances next season.
