Barcelona would consider playing in Asian Champions League if banned from Europe

Barcelona are looking into the potential option of joining in with the Asian Champions League, if they get banned by UEFA from the European version.

It's been a funny old year for Barcelona despite the fact they easily won La Liga for the first time in four years, securing the title with four games to go.

They have still had their financial issues at the club, which even saw star Gavi be unable to be registered as a first team player for most of the season.

Xavi's side were also humiliated in Europe where they were knocked out of both the Champions League and Europa League before the last 16.

Away from the pitch they have run into troubles with an investigation and charges into alleged corruption over the payment to a company connected to Spanish referees.

Barca have vehemently denied any wrongdoing, with club president Joan Laporta even attempting to shift any finger pointing of cheating onto Real Madrid.

However they are now under the very real threat of missing out on European competition next season, despite finishing top of La Liga, with UEFA considering banning them.

And it seems they've been taking that threat very seriously and have started making plans to potentially play in the Asian Champions League instead.

According to a report last month from Catalan television programme Onze, the club have been looking into where they could potentially play in order to keep up their revenue streams and another continent's competition is a possibility.

Barcelona's men haven't won the Champions League since 2015. Image: Alamy

It's not known exactly how they could play in the competition but any confederation would certainly think about it considering how much money it could generate.

Undoubtedly television companies in Europe would be far more likely to buy tv rights for the Asian Champions League if Barca were playing in the competition.

If they don't get into an alternative tournament then the Catalan giants would also look to play a number of high profile friendlies on Champions League weeks.

The club are desperate not to miss out on the revenue that the Champions League provides, as they're guaranteed around €50 million just for qualifying.

Last summer they had to pull a number of 'financial levers' just to be able to afford their signings which were meant to secure their future in Europe's elite club competition.