UEFA has opened an investigation into possible corruption at Barcelona. It says there is a potential breach of regulations

Clouds are gathering over Barcelona. Not over the city, where it’s 20 degrees and the sun is shining, but over FC Barcelona. Even UEFA has opened an investigation into possible corruption.

You may have noticed what is happening around Barcelona. A possible referee bribery scandal is being investigated in Spain, as Barcelona had the vice-president of the referees’ commission, Enriquez Negreira, on their payroll between 2001 and 2018.

Neither side denies the payments, which were said to total more than €7 million. The problem, however, lies in the explanation.

Barcelona claim that they paid for reports on referees, how they behave and so on. The problem, however, is that Ernesto Valverde, one of the Blaugranas coaches at the time, said he did not know about any reports.

Barcelona are thus unable to explain why so much money was going to the private firm of the vice-president of the referees’ commission.

Investigations are already underway at all levels in Spain and UEFA has now officially joined in. After gathering all the information from the Spanish Football Association, it has decided to go ahead and launch an investigation.

According to the organisation, which is in charge of European football, there is enough reason to believe that there was a possible breach of competition regulations.

UEFA has decided that it must launch an investigation to make sure that Barcelona has complied with all the regulations that all teams must follow in competitions organised by the organisation.

If all the undercuts are confirmed, Barcelona not only face the risk of being stripped of their titles and having points deducted, but also relegated to the second division.

Source: MARCA