The Ethics and Disciplinary Committee of UEFA has completed the case against Barcelona in relation to the “Negreira” case, UEFA announced on Friday.
Barcelona had faced the threat of suspension from UEFA competitions over multi-million dollar payments to a company linked to a Spanish referee.
According to court documents in the “Caso Negreira” case, Barcelona had paid 7.3 million euros from 2001 to 2018 to the company of Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice-president of the Spanish football referees’ committee. Barcelona had insisted that it had done nothing illegal and that there was no conflict of interest.
And UEFA has said that no breach was found, so Barcelona will be allowed to take part in the 2023/24 edition of the Champions League.
The team led by Xavi Hernandez won the title of champion in the last edition.
UEFA investigators have said that no irregularities have been found that would stop the club from participating in the Champions League.
Thus five teams will participate in the Champions League from the Spanish championship: Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Real Sociedad, Real Madrid and Sevilla as the winner of the Europa League.
The draw for the group stage of the next edition of the Champions League will be drawn on August 31.
