Worries that the Camp Nou team could be punished in next season’s Champions League did not materialize.
Mundo Deportivo said that after the investigation process, the Disciplinary Committee of the European Football Federation (UEFA) concluded Barca was eligible to participate in the Champions League 2022/23. UEFA sent this notice to the Catalan team on June 30
Previously, Barca was investigated by UEFA for the suspicion of bribing the referee. Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira is said to have received more than 7.3 million euros ($7.8 million) from Barca. The person who served as Vice-President of the Spanish Arbitration Commission (SRC) from 1994 to 2018 was later prosecuted for corruption and accepting bribes.
The Athletic revealed that Josep Maria Bartomeu (Barca President for the period 2014-2020) and Sandro Rosell (Barca President for the period 2010-2014) were also charged with giving bribes. The Catalan club explained that they paid Mr Negreira as a consultant to provide reports related to the referees who control matches in La Liga. In February, Mr. Negreira denied favoring Barca. The referee admitted to Cadena Ser that he was paid by Barca to ” give advice on how players should behave with different referees “.
However, Spanish prosecutors accused Barca , as a company, of business fraud. Many former Barca board members are also accused of mismanagement and falsifying business documents.
However, with the latest conclusion from UEFA, Barca will at least not be in trouble when attending the European playground next season.
The defending La Liga champions will be present at the draw for the group stage of the Champions League 2023/24, scheduled to be held in Monte Carlo (Monaco) on August 31. As the Spanish champion, Barca was ranked by UEFA as the number one seed group along with Manchester City, Seville, PSG, Bayern Munich, Napoli, Benfica and Feyenoord.
Group 2 has Manchester United, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Leipzig, Porto and Arsenal. Group 3 has Shakhtar Donetsk, Salzburg, Milan, Lazio, Red Star, Celtic and Union Berlin. Group 4 includes Lens, Newcastle and the teams that passed the preliminary round.