The first Chamber of the UEFA Club Financial Control Committee (CFCB) has imposed a fine of 500,000 euros on FC Barcelona, ”for erroneously declaring, in the 2022 financial year, profits from the disposal of intangible assets (other than player transfers) , which are not relevant income according to the regulations”. It will be UEFA who, in negotiation with Barcelona, decides the deadlines in which the entity must pay said amount.
UEFA confirmed this Friday the decisions of the chamber, after concluding the evaluation of the financial balance requirement that covers the years 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
The CFCB is a Body for the Administration of Justice and can impose disciplinary measures in the event that the requirements established in the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Sustainability Regulations are not met. Their final decisions can only be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne.
It is important to underline that the CFCB is competent to determine whether those who give the licenses (national federations or their affiliated league) and those who apply for them/licensees (clubs) have fulfilled the criteria or the requirements of financial sustainability and to decide in which cases a club may or may not play in UEFA club competitions.
The CFCB is made up of a First Chamber and an Appeals Chamber, both directed by a President and independent from each other. In June 2021, the UEFA Executive Committee elected the members of the CFCB for the period from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2023.
The UEFA sanction has nothing to do with the Negreira case. On June 30, UEFA informed the club that it has the placet to play the highest continental competition. Only the ratification of the UEFA Appeals Committee is missing but it is a mere formality. The body chaired by Ceferin decided to open an investigation into the club on March 23 in the middle of a hot wave for the Negreira case, the thorny issue of the payment of 7.3 million from the club to the former vice president of the Spanish committee of referees between 2001 and 2018.
Since then, the president of Barcelona, Joan Laporta, intensified contacts with the president of UEFA, Aleksander Ceferin, to try to avoid a punishment for the next season and so that the club would not be condemned sportingly until there was a final conviction. where appropriate, by ordinary justice.
In this way, Barça will be in the hype of the seeds in the Champions League in the draw for the group stage on August 31 along with Sevilla, Manchester City, Bayern, PSG, Benfica, Naples and the Feyenoord