LISBON – Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin said that Barcelona’s refereeing scandal is one of the most serious incidents he has seen in football ever since he became involved with the sport.

Uefa opened a formal investigation into Barcelona in March for potential violation of the European football governing body’s legal framework regarding payments made by the club to a company owned by a senior refereeing official.

“I cannot comment directly on this for two reasons,” Ceferin told Slovenian newspaper Ekipa in an interview published on Monday.

“Firstly, because we have an independent disciplinary committee. And secondly, because I have not dealt with this matter in detail.

“However, I can say something. As far as I am informed, the situation is extremely serious. So serious that it is, in my opinion, one of the most serious in football since I have been involved in it.”

The alleged payments of €7.3 million (S$10.6 million) were made by Barcelona from 2001 to 2018 to firms owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, then vice-president of the refereeing committee of the Spanish Football Association.

“At the level of the Spanish league, of course, the matter is out of date and cannot have competitive consequences, while the proceedings are ongoing at the level of the Spanish civil prosecutor’s office,” Ceferin added.

“The same applies to Uefa, nothing is time-barred here either.”

In a statement in February, Barca denied any wrongdoing, saying the club had paid an external consultant who supplied them with technical reports related to professional refereeing, which they claimed was a common practice among professional football clubs.

Barcelona on Monday called on La Liga president Javier Tebas to quit over “false” accusations allegedly made by him concerning their referee corruption case.

The Spanish giants made the demand after a newspaper claimed Tebas had written to the Spanish public prosecutor accusing two former Barca presidents of wrongdoing.

In a statement following La Vanguardia’s report, Barcelona claimed Tebas “presented false proof” to the public prosecutor “to incriminate our club”.

“FC Barcelona wants to express its deep anger, indignation and disgust,” the statement read.

It went on to demand that Tebas “appears in public to provide answers”, adding “for the dignity and respect of the presidency of La Liga Mr Tebas should resign”.

Tebas in response denied “accusing anyone” in a post on social media.

In Monday’s statement, a bruised Barcelona claimed they were the victims “of a media lynching for something that never happened – Barca have never bought off referees”.

On Wednesday, Uefa meet in Lisbon where Ceferin will stand unopposed for a new term as president of the governing body.

The 55-year-old Slovenian lawyer, elected in 2016 following the downfall of Frenchman Michel Platini, is therefore assured of a further four years in the role despite a turbulent second term overshadowed by the breakaway European Super League project.

The Uefa Congress in the Portuguese capital comes just a few weeks after Gianni Infantino was re-elected as president of FIFA, also unopposed.

Ceferin has had his differences with Infantino, with the Uefa chief notably one of the main voices against Fifa’s proposals to host the World Cup every two years instead of the current four.

That idea has been abandoned by Infantino, but the European Super League is not dead and buried, with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus continuing to pursue the project.

A lawsuit has been launched against Uefa and Fifa at the European Court of Justice, accusing the governing bodies of abusing their power by threatening to expel clubs and players interested in joining a breakaway league.

A final ruling is expected in the coming weeks, although the court’s advocate general, whose opinions are often followed by judges, provided a first ruling favourable to Uefa in December.

Assuming that decision goes Uefa’s way, Ceferin will be able to focus on pursuing the planned introduction of new Financial Fair Play rules, which will see clubs forced to limit spending on player and staff wages, transfers and agents fees to 70 percent of total revenues by 2025/26.

He will also oversee the introduction of a new format for the Champions League starting in 2024, which will see the so-called “Swiss system” model adopted for a group stage featuring 36 clubs, up from the current 32.

Ceferin, who has also recently hinted at softening rules that currently prevent clubs with the same owners facing each other in European competitions, can expect to face questions on these issues when he speaks to the press following Wednesday’s meeting.

Prior to Ceferin’s re-election, Uefa will hold an executive committee meeting on Tuesday in which it will name the hosts for the 2025 Women’s Euro.

A joint Scandinavian bid from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden goes up against bids from France, Poland and Switzerland.

Belarus will also be on the agenda, with the country in danger of being excluded from Uefa competitions due to its support of Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

Russia was expelled from all club and international competitions by Uefa last year following the invasion, but Belarus is involved in the qualifiers for Euro 2024, which it began with defeats against Switzerland and Romania last month.

In mid-March more than a hundred European Union lawmakers called on Uefa to expel Belarus too. AFP, REUTERS