Aleksander Ceferin, the president of UEFA, has been affected by the refereeing controversy surrounding Barcelona
Aleksander Ceferin, the president of UEFA, referred to the referee scandal surrounding Barcelona as one of the most significant situations he has ever witnessed.
The European football governing body is investigating Barcelona’s alleged payments to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira. He was a former vice-president of the refereeing committee in Spain. Barcelona is currently leading the La Liga standings.
Barcelona allegedly made payments exceeding €7million to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira’s company, DASNIL 95 SL, from 2001 to 2018. Negreira’s company provided written reports and DVD assessments of referees for the club before games.
However, Barcelona denies the allegations of corruption as prosecutors continue to investigate the case. The La Liga president, Javier Tebas, stated that the league cannot sanction the club due to the statute of limitations in place.
Ceferin stated that UEFA does not have any limitations and restrictions to investigate the alleged payments made by Barcelona and highlighted the importance and seriousness of the accusations.
“The situation is extremely serious. It is so serious that, in my opinion, it is one of the most serious [situations] in football that I have ever seen,” he told Slovenian newspaper Ekipa.
“I cannot comment directly on this for two reasons. Firstly, because we have an independent disciplinary committee in charge of this. And secondly, because I have not dealt with this matter in detail.
“At the level of [LaLiga], of course. the matter is time-barred and can have no competitive consequences. But the proceedings are ongoing at the level of prosecutors. But as far as UEFA is concerned, there is nothing time-barred.”
