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Barcelona could face a severe European sanction, up to a full season's ban from UEFA competitions, if investigations prove direct or indirect interference aimed at influencing the results of matches. That is what Article Four of European football's governing body stipulates.
According to the newspaper AS, Article Four grants UEFA the authority to declare any club ineligible for its competitions if the governing body concludes, based on the information and circumstances available to it, that the club was directly or indirectly involved in an activity aimed at manipulating or influencing the result of a match, whether domestic or international.
The regulation applies the ineligibility decision for one football season only. That means Barcelona could be barred from a European club competition for a single campaign, should UEFA determine that the article's conditions apply to the case.
Crucially, UEFA's rules do not require a court ruling before the governing body can act. They allow it to rely on all the information and circumstances it deems relevant.
The article also lets UEFA draw on decisions issued by sporting bodies, arbitration tribunals or government courts. It is not bound, however, by the conclusions those bodies reach when taking its own decision.
UEFA may equally refrain from excluding the club if it considers that an earlier decision from a sporting or judicial body, concerning the same facts, has already led to the club being prevented from playing in one of its competitions.
Barcelona's fate on this point therefore rests on what the relevant bodies within the European governing body conclude about the evidence and facts under investigation, and whether they meet the conditions set out in Article Four.