UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin hinted that Uefa is ready to ban Barcelona over the ref-fixing scandal.
The Catalan giants are under criminal investigation following claims they paid the country’s referees’ chief Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira more than £6.5m over a 17-YEAR period.
Aleksander Ceferin has hinted Uefa are ready to punish Barcelona
Barcelona are flying high at the top of La Liga, but the investigation will be an unwelcome distraction
Uefa last month launched an investigation that could lead to a one season Champions League ban.
And while angry Barca chiefs have accused La Liga boss Javier Tebas of giving “false” evidence against them – and demanded his resignation – Slovenian Ceferin weighed in by making it clear he was ready to demand tough action.
Ceferin, who will today be re-elected “by acclamation” to a second four-year term as the head of European football, said: “From what I have been told happened, the situation is extremely serious.
“So serious that in my estimation it is one of the most serious in football since I have been involved in it.
“We have an independent disciplinary committee. I cannot comment on what it might decide.
“Naturally, for La Liga, the matter is out of date and cannot have competitive consequences.
“But proceedings are going on at the level of the Spanish civil prosecutor’s office.
“And the same applies with Uefa action, because we have no time limit on alleged offences like this.”
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Ceferin also appeared to further open the door to multi-club ownership of side in European competition – good news for the proposed Qatari owners of Manchester United.
He added: “We don’t have a solution yet, but we have started talking about it.
“There is interest from a large number of those investors who are already present in European football to take over another club.
“I agree that if two such clubs compete in the same competition, they could in principle agree results.
“But can you tell a coach to lose a game so that another club wins? I doubt it, even if it’s possible in theory.
“Football is extremely interesting for investors.
“We are now faced with a dilemma: to remain conservative and see these investors go elsewhere with their money or to allow the ownership of several clubs with safeguards.
“While we think football should remain as it is, we should not be too conservative.
“Some rules come from the time when there were no such investors in football, or when the owners financed football from their business.
“Now they tell me that they finance their business from football. That’s a huge difference.”