Barcelona, Oct 19: The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne dismissed Barcelona’s appeal and, in a highly critical ruling published Friday, said the sanction of 500,000 euros was “actually rather mild.”
The case stems from the way Barcelona handled its financial reporting of a deal it secured to sell off a percentage of its broadcast rights for the next 25 years, which UEFA said was “manifestly inaccurate and non-compliant” with its rules aimed at ensuring responsible spending among soccer clubs in Europe.
In total, Barcelona secured deals worth 667.5 million euros (USD 724 million) in 2022 for selling off 25% of its future broadcast earnings from the Spanish league for the next 25 years.
UEFA said it then deliberately misreported one of those deals in its financial accounts and “overstated” its break-even results by 267 million euros (USD 290 million).