The Reason why UEFA cannot take action against Barcelona in Negreira case amid Real Madrid pressure

Real Madrid have taken the Negreira case matters into their own hands in recent months and have gone all out in their efforts to try and get Barcelona to face punishment.

The Catalans, however, continue to insist that a ‘crime’ was nevertheless committed and that the payments made to the former vice president of the CTA were for regular refereeing reports and had nothing to do with paying match officials.

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez even met with UEFA’s president recently to discuss the matter and submit elaborate evidence allegedly proving the ‘crime’.

However, UEFA continue to remain silent despite Los Blancos’ repeated interference.

Why UEFA are not acting 

Real Madrid are continually urging UEFA to take disciplinary action against Barcelona and possibly prohibit them from European competitions in light of the recent evidence.

Mundo Deportivo, however, reveal why the European governing body is not rushing into a decision.

UEFA initially opened the matter as a preliminary investigation in 2023 and never reached closure as they opted to wait for the judgment of the criminal proceedings in Spain to decide their course of action.

Only after the Spanish courts reach a final decision will UEFA take a step forward. 

Real Madrid, however, feel that justice delayed is justice denied and base their argument on the fact that UEFA does not maintain any time-bound ‘limitation’ for action to be taken against teams involved in corruption and bribery.

That outlines the fact that they see the crime as the most serious violation possible.

UEFA have hit a dead end

UEFA continue to await a decision from the courts in Spain to decide if they should take any actions against Barcelona. Matters in Spain, however, are very different.

Unlike UEFA who keep no ‘limitation’ on corruption related cased, the RFEF Regulations have shorter and clearly defined limitations. For any serious crime too, the limitation expires in three years.

Given that the last of the alleged payments was back in 2018 and it only became public in 2023, the limitation period had already expired by that point. Thus, they cannot inflict any sporting sanctions on Barcelona including competition bans or point deductions.

It thus remains to be seen if UEFA take a step forward on the matter or continues to wait for the criminal proceedings in Spain.