He Barca this Friday received the umpteenth economic blow from the UEFAmore precisely the fourth of 2024. Yes, four fines in ten months, to which if we add those she has received since 2011, there would already be a total of nine, which constitutes a dark decade during which it has become the target of the organization that governs football at the European level. The latter arrived late, because it was known that sooner or later he would have to pay the 500,000 euros with which he had been sanctioned in July 2023 for having incorrectly declared the profits for the 2022-23 financial year from the sale of assets intangible assets which are not relevant income according to the regulations.
The Barça club did everything possible to extend the payment of this fine, but with the dismissal of the Supreme Court of Sports (CAS) we know this Friday that there is no more tutia. This financial sanction is the largest of nine imposed over the last 13 years and the overall amount already amounts to 916,000 euros. Nearly a million for various offenses, ignoring Fair play most energetic financier for UEFA
In addition, the CAS warned the Catalan entity that the fine of 500,000 euros is not “obvious and totally disproportionate to the offense” committed, adding that it even considers it “light” for the misused nature of this maneuver. Barcelona’s sale included 10% of the club’s League-related television rights for a period of 25 years, thereby violating two UEFA articles, 58 and 77.01.
In this way, if we re-examine the fines that the Barcelona received from April to October of this year, we find four which, although their financial amount is not very high, show that there is a club which, sportingly, socially or administratively, does not comply with the standards of UEFA. The total figure, to also specify that of 2024, is 602,000 euros.
Barça and the 9 UEFA fines
The first of these four arrived on April 18 and amounted to 32,000 euros for the bad behavior of his supporters during the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Champions League disputed in the Princes Park on April 10 against the Paris Saint-Germain: acts of violence, lighting of fireworks and racist behavior. UEFA’s first economic plan for Barça in 2024.
The next one took a little over a month to arrive and this one was higher. More than 60,000 euros, including 26,000 for inappropriate behavior, 26,250 for throwing objects and 5,000 for invading the pitch during the quarter-final return match against PSGa day when they were also harshly eliminated from the European Cup.
And before the most abundant, which they are already obliged to pay half a million euros, the summer has passed and on September 27 Barça received the first fine of the football season for an unfortunate event that involved some of his supporters who moved to Monaco. 10,000 euros for displaying a Nazi banner displayed by a group of Barça supporters in the stadium Louis II during the match against the Monegasque team.
And going back even further in time, on March 31, 2020, in the middle of a pandemic, Barcelona was fined 15,000 euros for being late in the round of 16 match against Naples which was performed in a Diego Armando Maradona of Italy without audience. Ten months earlier, 20,000 euros for failings in the organization of their Champions League match against Tottenham and more than two years before (2017) 19,000 euros for a pitch invasion during the epic comeback against PSG with Luis Enrique on the bench.
The beginning of a difficult stage
But looking even further, we find two quite significant fines that have started to shape this figure of over 900 thousand euros that we are talking about. On December 19, 2016, Barcelona was fined 150,000 euros for wearing stars in two different Champions League matches, a practice completely banned in UEFA competitions because it was considered a political excuse. And on October 6, 2011, the first in this 13-year period, Barça had to pay 110,000 euros to launch flares during the Monaco Super Cup, a few months after winning their penultimate “orejona” by beating THE Manchester United.
