Barcelona have been provisionally admitted to the Champions League for the coming season amid a UEFA investigation into allegations the Spanish club made payments to a referees’ chief.
Back in March, the European football’s governing body announced that it was opening an investigation into Barca after it was reported they had paid € 7 million (£6m) to companies owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice-president of Spain’s referees committee, between 2001 and 2018.
UEFA’s appeals body confirmed the club had been granted provisional access to the 2023-24 Champions League but acknowledged: ‘A future decision on admission/exclusion from the UEFA club competitions is reserved.’
UEFA said four months ago that ethics and disciplinary investigators had been appointed to look into a potential violation of UEFA’s legal framework’ in relation to this case.
The appeals body said on Thursday: ‘The investigators in charge of the case are invited to continue and finalise their investigation and to send a further report to the appeals body if and when they consider that the admission/exclusion of FC Barcelona should be assessed.’
