Barça cannot live in peace after Aleksander Ceferin’s words in the Slovenian media ekipa in which he said that the ‘Negreira Case’ is “the most serious thing” he has seen in football. UEFA opened an investigation to clarify what happened, something that can fully affect the eligibility criteria that the body uses for European competitions.
At the end of the season, each federation communicates to UEFA the clubs classified by each country. It is mandatory to indicate if there is any procedure or irregularity at the national or international level that affects them. Then, based on that, UEFA decides whether or not to allow the team in question to play the competition. That is, UEFA “chooses” which teams participate in its tournaments.
In the case of Barça, the conflict seems obvious. The investigation is open in Spain and also by UEFA itself. As soon as they qualify for the Champions League, the alarms will go off. This notice does not always entail the exclusion of European competitions, but there is a case, also in Spain, that should put the Catalan team on alert.
It happened in the 2012-2013 season. Málaga was sixth in the League and obtained the right to play in the Europa League, but received notice from UEFA for not having their Social Security payments up to date. In Switzerland they understood that it was an irregularity that violated their election criteria and they left him out of Europe.
Finally, that place went to Sevilla (9th), because Rayo, eighth, was not allowed to go either, considering that the club had not yet paid its debt at the time that the RFEF Licensing Committee had to determine. More recently, Milan was left without the Europa League in 2019-2020 and Torino was in its place. Another of the teams not admitted by UEFA was Galatasaray, who was left without the Europa League in 2016-2017 and was Osmanlispor.
Barça would be in the same position due to the Negreira case, even if it is a matter of integrity rather than economics. A period of one year is understood as sufficient for the clubs to fix what they are excluded from. This procedure is not a sanction as such, but an eligibility criterion. The disciplinary process can continue its course in parallel, much longer in time, and lead to a sanction if there is indeed evidence that the UEFA codes were violated.
The speed with which UEFA has proceeded to open the investigation suggests that it is thinking about the next Champions League. He needs time for a possible appeal by Barça before UEFA and before the TAS. In the latter case, an expedited procedure would speed up the outcome and allow August to arrive on time, when the new edition starts. The question is whether they will find enough reasons for Barça to be left out of it.