Barcelona fine for breach of UEFA financial rules upheld following appeal

A fine imposed on Barcelona for a breach of UEFA’s financial reporting rules has been upheld following an appeal by the club.

Barca were fined 500,000 euros (£434,000) in July by the UEFA Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) First Chamber for wrongly reporting profits on the disposal of intangible assets, other than player transfers, in the financial year 2022 which were not considered as relevant income.

Now, the CFCB’s Appeals Chamber has rejected the club’s appeal and upheld the First Chamber’s initial decision and sanction.

UEFA has not said precisely what the profits wrongly reported by the club related to.

In 2022, Barcelona sold 25 per cent of their domestic television rights for the next 25 years to global investment firm Sixth Street. Sixth Street said the purchase of the first 10 per cent of those rights in June last year was worth 267million euros (231.7m) to the club.

The club are also the subject of a separate UEFA investigation into allegations they made payments to a former vice-president of Spain’s referees’ committee.

Reports in February claimed the club paid companies owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira 7million euros (£6.2million) between 2001 and 2018.

Negreira was the vice-president of the Spanish football federation’s refereeing committee from 1993 to 2018.

Barcelona have denied any wrongdoing, with club president Joan Laporta saying earlier this year: “Barca have never bought referees nor influence.

“That was never the intention and that has to be clear. The facts contradict those that are trying to tell a different story.”