Barcelona given green light to play in the Champions League amid Uefa payments probe

Despite a Uefa probe into claims the club paid a referees ‘ boss, Barcelona has received a preliminary green light to compete in the 2023–24 Champions League.

In March, the governing body of European football announced that it was investigating allegations that Barcelona received bribes for favorable refereeing rulings.

Barcelona has refuted any misconduct.

The Spanish club has been permitted to play in Europe, but Uefa has the ability to penalize the team in the future.

The Uefa probe followed after the Barcelona public prosecutor’s office opened a criminal inquiry on March 10.

According to the allegations, Barcelona paid Dasnil 95 and Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, a former vice-president of Spain’s referees’ committee, 8.4 million euros (£7.4 million).

Barca, former club officials, and Negreira were indicted for “corruption”, “breach of trust” and “false business records”.

Uefa said: “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 [in the Champions League] should be assessed.”