Sports law expert: Barcelona may be banned from European competition if found guilty in Negreira case

Football 5:00pm, 21 October 2025 131

The "Negrera case" involving Barcelona has not yet been determined. Regarding the possible impact of this matter, sports law expert César Lage expressed his views in an interview with "Flashscore".

Lage said: "The biggest problem for Barcelona may be that if the guilty verdict is established, UEFA may actively intervene and ban it from participating in the European War for one to two years."

Take Fenerbahce and Trabzonspor as examples. These two clubs have been excluded from the European War by UEFA for match fixing and sports corruption. In addition, since 2016, both clubs have been punished again for violating financial fair play principles. However, Lage noted that this would only happen if Barcelona, ​​led by Joan Laporta, were found guilty. He said: "If Barcelona is not found guilty in the criminal proceedings, UEFA will have to compensate the club for losses, and the amount will be very high."

Before that, the judge responsible for ruling on whether there is sports corruption may start a new paradigm. "In similar cases, such as Osasuna or Zaragoza Levante, both judges decided to proceed with summary proceedings and open a trial despite less evidence," Lage said. However, in this case, he believed that "there was clearer and stronger evidence."

Lage believes that conviction for administrative reasons is unlikely. He said: "I believe that dishonest management behavior lacks a key element, which is intention. Intention is an important factor in the crime of dishonest management, which means that when committing the act, the perpetrator knew that damage would be caused. The defense has always claimed that they inherited these payments, so the intention of the payer was not to cause damage to the sports entity."

Regardless of the outcome of the case, the final judgment is not expected to be released until the end of 2027 or early 2028, provided that a trial is held. Lage said: "I think the investigation may be postponed again, especially after the statement on December 12. The investigation will end in March next year, but it may be postponed again to September. Then we need to see what the judge decides and see whether they will go to trial or directly file."

 

 

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