Way of Russia: Media learns of Barcelona's plans to move to Asia

The management of the Catalan club Barcelona is considering the possibility of participating in club tournaments under the auspices of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in the event of sanctions from the European Football Union (UEFA). The Spanish giants face expulsion from the Champions League after a scandal involving the possible bribery of a referee.

Such data was published by the Onze programme, Sport.es portal writes. Barcelona are optimistic about participating in next season's Champions League draw, but have begun to work out possible steps in case of suspension from UEFA tournaments.

The club has already conducted research to find out whether it will be able to participate in competitions outside Europe in the event of sanctions. One option is to play friendly matches, while another is to try to enter AFC tournaments as an invited guest, which could bring Barça financial benefits.

It should be noted that the Russian Football Union (RFU), whose teams have been suspended from European tournaments due to Russia's aggression against Ukraine, is still considering joining the AFC. Recently, the Russian Football Union complained that UEFA had "too quickly" excluded Russian representatives from its tournaments.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, Russia said it was going to deceive UEFA by enrolling teams from the temporarily occupied Crimea in its championship.

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