FC Barcelona face a possible elimination from the UEFA Champions League (UCL) 2024/25 season, which could increase to two to three years, due to alleged violations of UEFA’s financial regulations, reported German newspaper Welt.
According to the European football governing body, clubs are obliged to offset expenses with corresponding income, which includes the most recent three-year cycle.
Barca’s balance sheets are a mess which is no secret to anyone and despite that the Blaugrana announced a net profit of €304 million in September which opened the discussion of possible penalties as, according to UEFA’s financial regulations, only transactions that were derived from football business can be counted.
While Barca’s profit mostly included off-the-field income like the sale of future TV and marketing rights and others.
If the case proceeds and reaches its conclusion, Barca are likely to be banned from UCL for up to three years.
However, as per Spanish source Mundo Deportivo which is close to the club, Barcelona are not worried about the matter as the club knows that all “lever” transactions were done with La Liga’s approval.
The Catalan club were not surprised that UEFA’s report came just two days after the European Union Court of Justice’s historic ruling on the European Super League (ESL) as they are the main advocates of ESL alongside Real Madrid and Juventus.
Barcelona, along with Real Madrid have faced constant backlash from UEFA, FIFA, and La Liga for their constant attempts to create ESL.
It must be noted that on December 21, the EU’s Court of Justice ruled in favour of the ESL calling out UEFA and FIFA’s actions as “illegal”.
The ruling confirmed that UEFA can no longer stop the clubs from participating in the Super League as it did in the past, as that would be contrary to EU law nor can they stop Barca or Madrid to create a new club competition.