Follow usBarcelona will be investigated by the UEFA governing body, facing a potential Champions League ban, after the Catalan club suppossedly payed millions of dollars to a company, linked with match officials.
The European football body asked for investigation on the matter on Thursday, which has already been started by Spanish prosecutors.
Champions League regulations say if a club is involved in match fixing, then the governing body will disqualify it from European competition.
Court documents show Barcelona paid 7.3 million euros from 2001-18 to the company of José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice president of Spanish football’s refereeing committee.
Barcelona has formally been accused of corruption in sports, fraudulent management and falsification of business documents. An investigating judge will decide if this is the case and what charges will it lead to.
No evidence has yet been published that referees or individual games were actually influenced.
The Catalan team has firmly denied any wrongdoing from their behalf, saying the payments were intended for technical reports on referees but never tried to influence their decisions in games.
Any proof of manipulated games in the past 16 years could see UEFA exclude Barcelona from European competitions for one year and prosecute a disciplinary case.
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