According to Tasnim news agency and quoted by Marca; Negrera’s case, which is to deal with the charges of Barcelona club regarding the payment of bribes to Jose Maria Enriques Negrera, the former vice president of the Spanish Football Referees Committee during the presidency of Josep Maria Bartomeu, is still one of the most important news in the Spanish sports media. Despite the acquittal of the club by domestic judicial authorities, this case has not yet been closed in the European Football Union (UEFA). Therefore, there is still a possibility that UEFA – an institution that has been in touch with Barça since the beginning of the Super League project – wants to punish the Catalan club, which, of course, must wait for a strange reaction from this club.
In fact, this is the claim of the ONCE program on Channel 3 of Catalonia TV that the Barcelona club has started an investigation to see if it can play in a tournament outside of Europe or not; to participate in that tournament if his suspension is confirmed. According to the report of this program, one of Barcelona’s options in case of being banned by UEFA is to participate in friendly tournaments as a guest, which can bring good sources of income for the Catalan team. It seems that Barca are interested in the cooperation of East Asian teams in this regard.
This is not the only thing that can happen to Barcelona. Despite the club being acquitted by a domestic judicial body, there is still the possibility of being punished in Spain, and the club is apparently considering the option of playing in another European league to respond to that scenario. In any case, any decision made by club officials to respond to potential sanctions must be approved and approved by club members in a referendum.
Barcelona club president Juan Laporta had a meeting with UEFA president Alexander Ceferin a few days ago to explain the details of the Negira case to him and clear the club of charges.